The absorption intensity is expressed by the Beer-Lambert law, A = e x c x l, where A is absorbance, c is molar concentration, l is the path length of sample cell (usually 1 cm), and e is the extinction or molar absorptivity coefficient. The absorption spectrum of the substrate versus the chromophore, pNA (the chromogenic leaving group) is the reason for reading the reactions at 405 nm. The absorbance maximum of the unhydrolyzed, intact substrate is 316 nm and 380 nm for pNA. Although the difference between substrate and product is maximal at 385 nm, at 405 nm, there is less background reading, and the absorbance of the substrate is still less than 1% of that of an equimolar amount of pNA.