Mean-field cooperativity in chemical kinetics

We consider cooperative reactions and we study the effects of the interaction strength among the system components on the reaction rate, hence realizing a connection between microscopic and macroscopic observables. Our approach is based on statistical mechanics models and it is developed analytically via mean-field techniques. First of all, we show that, when the coupling strength is set positive, a cooperative behavior naturally emerges from the model; in particular, by means of various cooperative measures previously introduced, we highlight how the degree of cooperativity depends on the interaction strength among components. Furthermore, we introduce a criterion to discriminate between weak and strong cooperativity, based on a measure of "susceptibility." We also properly extend the model in order to account for multiple attachments phenomena: this is realized by incorporating within the model p-body interactions, whose non-trivial cooperative capability is investigated too. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.