High-pressure liquid chromatography and microcalorimetry have been used to study the thermodynamics of the hydrolysis reactions of a series of disaccharides. The enzymes used to bring about the hydrolyses were: beta-galactosidase for lactulose and 3-o-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-D-arabinose; beta-glucosidase for alpha-D-melibiose; beta-amylase for D-trehalose; isomaltase for palatinose; and alpha-glucosidase for D-turanose. The buffer used was sodium acetate (0.02-0.10 M and pH 4.44-5.65). For the following processes at 298.15 K: lactulose(aq) + H2O(liq) = D-galactose(aq) + D-fructose(aq), K0 = 128 +/- 10 and delta H0 = 2.21 +/- 0.10 kJ mol-1; alpha-D-melibiose(aq) + H2O(liq) = D-galactose(aq) + D-glucose(aq), K0 = 123 +/- 42 and delta H0 = -0.88 +/- 0.50 kJ mol-1; palatinose(aq) + H2O(liq) = D-glucose(aq) + D-fructose(aq), delta H0 = -4.44 +/- 1.1 kJ mol-1; D-trehalose(aq) + H2O(liq) = 2 D-glucose(aq), K0 = 119 +/- 10 and delta H0 = 4.73 +/- 0.41 kJ mol-1; D-turanose(aq) + H2O(liq) = D-glucose(aq) + D-fructose(aq), delta H0 = -2.68 +/- 0.75 kJ mol-1; and 3-o-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-D-arabinose(aq) + H2O(liq) = D-galactose(aq) + D- arabinose(aq),0H0 = 107 +/- 10 and delta H0 = 2.97 +/- 0.10 kJ mol-1.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)