On diffusion-controlled dissociation

Abstract The theory of diffusion-controlled association is used to determine the time development of the corresponding dissociation process. The departure from a pure exponential decay will influence the entire time course, and not just the initial transient as in the case of an association process. It is also shown how this departure enters the results from temperature- jump experiments and alike. The effect is predicted to be most apparent in the case of ligand binding to a macromolecule with a large number of binding sites.