Simultaneous kinetic determinations with the kalman filter

The linear Kalman filter is successfully applied to the processing of data for simultaneous kinetic determinations. The Kalman filter offrs all of the advantages of linear least squares over traditional methods of data processing, but is simpler and more efficient than batch-mode least squares. The viability of the Kalman filter is demonstrated with synthetic data and it is then applied to the analysis of amino acid mixtures by their reaction with trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid. Mixtures of glycine and asparagine are successfully analyzed even though their pseudeo-first-order rate constants differ by a factor of only 2.5. The potential of the Kalman filter for real-time application is discussed.