A METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF DIFFUSION CONSTANTS AND THE CALCULATION OF THE RADIUS AND WEIGHT OF THE HEMOGLOBIN MOLECULE

A method is described for determining the diffusion coefficient of solutes by determining the rate of passage of the solute through a thin porous membrane between two solutions of different concentration. The method has been used to determine the diffusion coefficient of carbon monoxide hemoglobin. This was found to be 0.0420 +/- 0.0005 cm.(2) per day at 5 degrees C. The molecular weight of carbon monoxide hemoglobin calculated by means of Einstein's equation from this quantity is 68,600 +/- 1,000.