Fluctuations in the polymerization of sickle hemoglobin. A simple analytic model

Using the stochastic theory of chemical reactions and the theory of first passage times, a simple analytic expression is derived for the distribution of delay times that has been observed in studies of the polymerization kinetics of sickle hemoglobin under conditions where the polymerization progress curves exhibit stochastic variation. The rate of homogeneous nucleation can be readily extracted from such experiments using this expression. This work constitutes a significant addition to the rather limited number of examples where contact can be successfully made between the stochastic theory of chemical kinetics and experiment.