Abstract
Sucralose, one of the popular non-caloric artificial sweeteners, has been known to influence the enzymatic conversion of sucrose to glucose and fructose by invertase. In continuing the use of real-time NMR experiments and reaction progress curve analysis to measure enzyme kinetics, here we investigate the role of sucralose as an inhibitor. NMR based kinetic experiments were performed as a function of the substrate concentration for a range of sucralose concentrations, and the results were analyzed by fitting the progress curve to the Lambert-W function. The Michaelis-Menten parameters were then used to estimate the inhibitory constant of sucralose. To estimate the extent of sucralose inhibition on the enzymatic production of glucose, control experiments were performed with lactose as the inhibitor under similar experimental conditions. The results show that sucralose is a much more potent inhibitor than lactose, inhibiting the enzymatic conversion at least seven times more.