A study of the hydrolysis of 30 substituted-phenyl hippurates by the enzyme ficin has been made. From the results the following quantitative structure--activity relationship (QSAR) has been derived: log 1/Km = 0.79 pi'3 + 0.58 sigma + 0.28 MR4,5 + 3.70. In this expression Km is the Michaelis constant, pi'3 refers to the more hydrophobic of the two meta substituents, and MR4,5 is the molar refractivity of substituents in the 4- and 5-positions of the phenyl ring. This QSAR is compared with those from papain, actinidin, bromelain B, and bromelain D.