Direct Electrochemistry of Cytochrome c on a Silica Sol‐Gel Film Modified Electrode

Dilute silica sol‐gel was simply dropped on the surface of a basal plane graphite electrode (BPGE) to form a silica sol‐gel film modified electrode. Direct electrochemical response of cytochrome c (Cyt c) on the modified electrode was observed by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The results suggested that Cyt c could be tightly adsorbed on the surface of the silica sol‐gel film modified electrode. A couple of well‐defined and nearly reversible redox peaks can be observed in a phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.0), which anodic and cathodic peak potentials were at ?0.243 and ?0.306 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), respectively. Cyt c adsorbed on the surface of silica sol‐gel film shows a remarkable electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of oxygen. Based on these, a third‐generation biosensor could be constructed to detect the concentration of oxygen in aqueous solution.     

Electrochemical studies of cytochrome c on gold electrodes with promotor of humic acid and 4-aminothiophenol

p-Aminothiophenol (PATP) and humic acids (HA or HAs) were applied jointly as the electron transfer accelerants of redox reactions of cytochrome c (Cyt c) on gold electrodes. The electrochemical properties of the modified electrodes were studied by field emission scanning electron microscope, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The immobilized Cyt c displayed a couple of stable and well-defined redox peaks with a formal potential of −0.101 V (vs. SCE) in pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution. Cyt c adsorption is in the form of a monolayer with average surface coverage of 5.28 pmol cm⁻². The electron transfer rate constant was calculated to be 2.14 s⁻¹. It indicate that the HA film acted as a good adsorption matrix for Cyt c and an excellent accelerant for the redox of Cyt c. The Cyt c-HA modified gold electrode showed a new couple of well-marked redox peaks when 2,4-dichlorophenol was added to the test solution.     

Immobilization and direct electrochemistry of cytochrome <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">c</Emphasis> at a single-walled carbon nanotube-modified electrode

A single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)-modified electrode was fabricated and characterized by SEM and ac impedance techniques. The direct electrochemistry of cytochrome c (Cyt c), which was adsorbed on the surface of the SWNT, was studied by cyclic voltammetry. The results from cyclic voltammetry and infrared spectroscopy indicated that Cyt c remained in its original structure and did not undergo structural change after its immobilization on the SWNT. Further results demonstrated that the SWNT had promotional effects on the direct electron transfer of Cyt c and also indicated that the immobilized Cyt c retained its electrocatalytic activity to the reduction of H₂O₂. This modified electrode might be used in development of new biosensors and the biofuel cells.     

Surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopic study of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c and its mutant

The structural stability and redox properties of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c and its mutant, F82H, were studied by surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) spectroscopy. Phenylalanine, which exists at the position-82 in yeast iso-1-cytochrome c, is replaced by histidine in the mutant. The SERRS spectra of the proteins on the bare silver electrodes indicate that the mutant possesses a more stable global structure with regard to the adsorption-induced conformational alteration. The redox potential of the mutant negatively shifts by about 400 mV, relative to that of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c. This is ascribed to axial ligand switching and higher solvent accessibility of the heme iron in the mutant during the redox reactions.     

Carboxyphenyl Covalent Immobilization of Heme Proteins and its Favorable Biocompatible Electrochemical and Electrocatalytic Characteristics

A novel carboxyphenyl covalent immobilization technique has been successfully developed to realize the effective attachment of two typical heme proteins, hemoglobin (Hb) and cytochrome c (Cyt‐c), onto underlying glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Primarily, the GCE surface is functionalized with aromatic 4‐carboxyphenyl (4‐CP) group by the electrochemical reduction of diazonium cations, producing covalently linked carboxyl‐terminated active GCE surface to work as a ‘bridge’. Then, Hb and Cyt‐c are readily attached to GCE through the ‘bridge’ by functional covalently combination between ? NH₂ terminal groups of proteins and ? COOH terminal groups of 4‐CP, obtaining Hb/4‐CP/GCE and Cyt‐c/4‐CP/GCE. On both electrodes, well‐defined peaks attributing to the Fe^III/Fe^II couple of heme group of Hb and Cyt‐c are clearly observed with the electron transfer rate constant (k_s) evaluated to be 2.48±0.05 s^?1 and 2.73±0.05 s^?1, respectively. It is attractive that the formal potential (E°') of the immobilized Hb and Cyt‐c are estimated to be 50 and 100 mV (vs. SCE), respectively, which are closer to the standard redox potential of native Hb and Cyt‐c in solution, owing to the good biocompatibility of 4‐CP groups. The electrodes also exhibit fast response, high sensitivity and well stability for the amperometric detection of H₂O₂ at a fairly mild potential of 0 V without any mediators, obtaining rather small apparent Michaelis‐Menten constant (K_M^app) values of 113 μM for Hb/4‐CP/GCE and 101 μM for Cyt‐c/4‐CP/GCE. All the experimental results indicated that the covalent graft 4‐carboxyphenyl group plays an important role in constructing a “biocompatible bridge” to help the direct electron transfer of Hb and Cyt‐c with favorable biocompatibility and good bio‐ electrocatalytic affinity in virtue of the substituted aryl group only consisting of C, H and O elements, which is similar with the constitutes of organics. It makes the system of functionalized covalent immobilization of proteins onto carbon electrode a promising platform for fabricating the third‐generation biosensors. A new approach for realizing direct electrochemistry of proteins, as well as design of novel bioelectronic devices has been accordingly provided.     

Electrochemistry and Electrocatalysis of a Nafion/Nano‐CaCO3/Hb Film Modified Carbon Ionic Liquid Electrode Using BMIMPF6 as Binder

In this paper a room temperature ionic liquid 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIMPF₆) was used as binder for the construction of carbon ionic liquid electrode (CILE) and a new electrochemical biosensor was developed for determination of H₂O₂ by immobilization of hemoglobin (Hb) in the composite film of Nafion/nano‐CaCO₃ on the surface of CILE. The Hb modified electrode showed a pair of well‐defined, quasi‐reversible redox peaks with E_pa and E_pc as ?0.265 V and ?0.470 V (vs. SCE). The formal potential (E°′) was got by the midpoint of E_pa and E_pc as ?0.368 V, which was the characteristic of Hb Fe(III)/Fe(II) redox couples. The peak to peak separation was 205 mV in pH 7.0 Britton–Robinson (B–R) buffer solution at the scan rate of 100 mV/s. The direct electrochemistry of Hb in the film was carefully investigated and the electrochemical parameters of Hb on the modified electrode were calculated as α=0.487 and k_s=0.128 s^?1. The Nafion/nano‐CaCO₃/Hb film electrode showed good electrocatalysis to the reduction of H₂O₂ in the linear range from 8.0 to 240.0 μmol/L and the detection limit as 5.0 μmol/L (3σ). The apparent Michaelis–Menten constant (K_M^app) was estimated to be 65.7 μmol/L. UV‐vis absorption spectroscopy and FT‐IR spectroscopy showed that Hb in the Nafion/nano‐CaCO₃ composite film could retain its native structure.     

A conductive crosslinked graphene/cytochrome c networks for the electrochemical and biosensing study

The direct electrochemistry of catalytically active cytochrome C (Cyt c) adsorbed together with a 3-dimensional network of chemically synthesized graphene on glassy carbon electrode has been readily obtained in aqueous phosphate buffer. Direct electrical communication between the redox center of Cyt c and the modified graphene-based electrode was established. The modified electrode was employed as a high-performance hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) biosensor. The Cyt c present in modified electrode exhibited a pair of quasi-reversible redox peaks with a midpoint potential of ?0.380 and ?0.2 V, cathodic and anodic, respectively. Investigations into the electrocatalytic activity of the modified electrode upon hydrogen peroxide exposure revealed a rapid amperometric response (5 s). Under optimized conditions, the linear range of response to H₂O₂ concentration ranged from 5 × 10^?7 to 2 × 10^?4 M with a detection limit of 2 × 10^?7 M at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The stability, reproducibility, and selectivity of the proposed biosensor are discussed in relation to the morphology and composition of the modified electrode.     

Direct electrochemical behavior of cytochrome c, and its determination on phytic acid modified electrode

Phytic acid (PA) with its unique structure was attached to a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to form PA/GCE modified electrode which was characterized by electrochemical impedance. The electrochemical behavior of cytochrome c (Cyt c) on the PA/GCE modified electrode was explored by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. The Cyt c displayed a quasi-reversible redox process on PA modified electrode pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution with a formal potential (E ^0′) of 57 mV (versus Ag/AgCl). The peak currents were linearly related to the square root of the scan rate in the range of 20–120 mV·s^?1. The electron transfer rate constant was determined to be 12.5 s^?1. The PA/GCE modified electrode was applied to the determination of Cyt c, in the range of 5?×?10^?6 to 3?×?10^?4 M, the currents increase linearly to the Cyt c concentration with a correlation coefficient 0.9981. The detection limit was 1?×?10^?6 M (signal/noise?=?3).     

Functionalization of gold electrode surface with heterobifunctional poly(ethylene oxide)s having both mercapto and aldehyde groups

We synthesized heterobifunctional poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) (α‐formyl‐ω‐mercapto‐PEO; CHO‐PEO₄₀₀‐SH, average molecular weight of PEO part being 400), which had both an aldehyde group as a binding site with amino group of protein and a mercapto group for gold electrode surface. The CHO‐PEO₄₀₀‐SH was adsorbed on a gold electrode surface and cytochrome c (cyt.c) was fixed on this modified electrode. The redox response of covalently immobilized cyt.c was observed on the cyclic voltammetry measurement, showing that CHO‐PEO₄₀₀‐SH can be used as a linker to fix cyt.c on an electrode. Another type of heterobifunctional PEO (α‐formyl‐ω‐(2‐pyridyldithio)‐PEO; CHO‐PEO₃₀₀‐SS‐Py), which had an aldehyde group and a 2‐pyridinethiol (2‐Py) through disulfide bond, was synthesized to form co‐adsorbed monolayer of PEO chain and 2‐Py on an electrode surface. It was expected, due to the spacer with shorter PEO chain and lower surface density, that better redox response of the fixed cyt.c was obtained. However, the redox response of fixed cyt.c was not detected on the CHO‐PEO₃₀₀‐SS‐Py modified gold electrode. Instead, this heterobifunctional PEO was found to function as a good promoter for cyt.c dissolved in phosphate buffer solution. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct Electrochemistry of Cytochrome c Based on Poly(diallyldimethylammonium Chloride)‐ Graphene Nanosheets/Gold Nanoparticles Hybrid Nanocomposites and Its Biosensing

A novel biosensor was developed by entrapping cytochrome c (Cyt c) in thin films of the room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) containing nanocomposites of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)‐graphene nanosheets‐gold nanoparticles (PDDA‐Gp‐AuNPs) at a 11‐mercaptoundecanoic acid‐6‐mercapto‐1‐hexanol modified gold electrode. The synthesized PDDA‐Gp‐AuNPs hybrid nanocomposites were characterized by UV‐vis spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The PDDA‐Gp‐AuNPs nanocomposites could increase the effective surface of the electrode, enhance the fixed amount of Cyt c on the electrode surface, promote the electron transfer and facilitate the catalytic activity of Cyt c. The RTIL could provide a biocompatible microenvironment to keep Cyt c biological activities, act as an effective mediator to immobilize a large number of Cyt c on the electrode and have good conductivity to improve electron transfer. Therefore, the resultant electrode exhibited good electrochemical performance and electrocatalytic activity. It could be used for electrochemical detection of H₂O₂ with rapid response, high sensitivity, wide linear range and low detection limit, as well as good stability, repeatability and selectivity. The sensor might be promising for practical application.     

Nickel electrodes as a cheap and versatile platform for studying structure and function of immobilized redox proteins

Practical use of many bioelectronic and bioanalytical devices is limited by the need of expensive materials and time consuming fabrication. Here we demonstrate the use of nickel electrodes as a simple and cheap solid support material for bioelectronic applications. The naturally nanostructured electrodes showed a surprisingly high electromagnetic surface enhancement upon light illumination such that immobilization and electron transfer reactions of the model redox proteins cytochrome b₅ (Cyt b₅) and cytochrome c (Cyt c) could be followed via surface enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy. It could be shown that the nickel surface, when used as received, promotes a very efficient binding of the proteins upon preservation of their native structure. The immobilized redox proteins could efficiently exchange electrons with the electrode and could even act as an electron relay between the electrode and solubilized myoglobin. Our results open up new possibility for nickel electrodes as an exceptional good support for bioelectronic devices and biosensors on the one hand and for surface enhanced spectroscopic investigations on the other hand.     

纳米ZnO修饰电极的制备及其对血红蛋白, 细胞色素c的直接电化学研究

A novel electrochemical method as a sensitive and convenient technique for the determination of heme proteins based on their interaction with ZnO nanorods was developed. A ZnO nanorod modified glassy carbon electrode (ZnO/GCE) was prepared and the electrochemical behaviors of heme proteins, such as hemoglobin (HB) and cytochrome c (Cyt-c), on this modified electrode have been studied. The results showed that both HB and Cyt-c could be oxidized on the modified electrode and the oxidation currents were linear to the concentrations of the analytes in aqueous solutions. In addition, the results of flow injection analysis (FIA) further suggested the high stability and reproducibility of the ZnO nanorod modified electrode. So this method can be applied to the determination of HB and Cyt-c in biological systems.     

Analysis of a high redox potential heme in tetraheme cytochrome c3 by direct electrochemistry

Cytochrome c₃ from Desulfovibrio vulgaris (Miyazaki F), a redox protein, contains four bis-histidine-coordinated hemes and has lower redox potential than other heme proteins. Direct electrochemical measurements of cytochrome c₃ were carried out using a pyrolytic graphite edge (PGE) electrode. A low redox potential, already measured by redox titration, and a high redox potential (− 245 mV vs. Ag/AgCl) were observed at room temperature. The high redox potential of cytochrome c₃ was similar to that observed for the loss of an axial ligand at heme. To investigate the loss of the histidine ligand, we explored the electrochemistry of four cytochrome c₃ mutants, in which the sixth coordinated histidine was replaced by methionine. The electrochemistry of the cytochrome c₃ mutants indicated that only Heme III undergoes loss of its axial histidine ligand.     

Direct Electrochemistry of Cytochrome P450 Reductases in Surfactant and Polyion Films

NADPH‐cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) serves as electron donor for cytochrome P450 catalyzed monooxygenase reactions utilizing flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) as electron transfer cofactors. Here, stable films of human and rabbit CPRs with didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB), dimyristoylphosphatidyl choline (DMPC), and poly(diallyldimethylammonium) (PDDA) were made on pyrolytic graphite (PG) electrodes for comparative structural and electrochemical studies. CD and UV‐VIS absorbance spectra suggested that near native CPR conformation is retained in PDDA films, and some conformational changes occur in DMPC or DDAB films. Cyclic voltammetry of these films gave quasireversible pairs of peaks at average formal potential ?0.246±0.008 V vs. NHE. In human CPR‐DDAB (H‐CPR‐DDAB), a second pair of peaks at +0.317 V vs. NHE was found that depended strongly on identity of buffer and salt. Excepting H‐CPR in DDAB, films showed similar voltammetry, formal potentials, and k_s values. While CPR‐PDDA films had near native CPR structures, electrochemical parameters did not differ significantly from CPR‐DMPC films. The relative independence of film voltammetry from the influence of film materials for CPRs is in contrast with heme iron proteins that, while retaining near native structures, have formal potentials that depend significantly on identity of the film material.     

Direct Electrochemistry of Catalase at a Gold Electrode Modified with Single‐Wall Carbon Nanotubes

The direct electrochemistry of catalase (Ct) was accomplished at a gold electrode modified with single‐wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). A pair of well‐defined redox peaks was obtained for Ct with the reduction peak potential at ?0.414 V and a peak potential separation of 32 mV at pH 5.9. Both reflectance FT‐IR spectra and the dependence of the reduction peak current on the scan rate revealed that Ct adsorbed onto the SWNT surfaces. The redox wave corresponds to the Fe(III)/Fe(II) redox center of the heme group of the Ct adsorbate. Compared to other types of carbonaceous electrode materials (e.g., graphite and carbon soot), the electron transfer rate of Ct redox reaction was greatly enhanced at the SWNT‐modified electrode. The peak current was found to increase linearly with the Ct concentration in the range of 8×10^?6–8×10^?5 M used for the electrode preparation and the peak potential was shown to be pH dependent. The catalytic activity of Ct adsorbates at the SWNTs appears to be retained, as the addition of H₂O₂ produced a characteristic catalytic redox wave. This work demonstrates that direct electrochemistry of redox‐active biomacromolecules such as metalloenzymes can be improved through the use of carbon nanotubes.     

Flavin Redox Bifurcation as a Mechanism for Controlling the Direction of Electron Flow during Extracellular Electron Transfer

The iron‐reducing bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR‐1 has a dual directional electronic conduit involving 40 heme redox centers in flavin‐binding outer‐membrane c‐type cytochromes (OM c‐Cyts). While the mechanism for electron export from the OM c‐Cyts to an anode is well understood, how the redox centers in OM c‐Cyts take electrons from a cathode has not been elucidated at the molecular level. Electrochemical analysis of live cells during switching from anodic to cathodic conditions showed that altering the direction of electron flow does not require gene expression or protein synthesis, but simply redox potential shift about 300 mV for a flavin cofactor interacting with the OM c‐Cyts. That is, the redox bifurcation of the riboflavin cofactor in OM c‐Cyts switches the direction of electron conduction in the biological conduit at the cell–electrode interface to drive bacterial metabolism as either anode or cathode catalysts.     

Myoglobin‐Clay Electrode for Nitric Oxide (NO) Detection in Solution

Sodium montmorillonite was prepared via a colloidal chemical approach and deposited onto glassy carbon electrodes (GCE). Myoglobin was immobilized on the clay membrane modified electrode by spontaneous adsorption. Characterization of the myoglobin/clay/glassy carbon electrode (Mb/clay/GCE) showed a quasi‐reversible, electrochemical redox behavior of the adsorbed protein with a formal potential of ?0.380±0.010 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant was found to be strongly influenced by the buffer concentration. The Mb/clay/GCE was stable for several days in solution. The interaction of the immobilized Mb with nitric oxide (NO) is characterized by coordination chemistry. The reaction was found to be reversible and could be applied for NO detection in the nanomolar concentration range by a voltammetric analysis. In addition a mixed protein electrode with co‐immmobilized myoglobin (Mb) and cytochrome c (Cyt.c) was developed. By choice of the electrode potential both proteins can be addressed independently.     

Direct Electron Transfer of Hemoglobin on a Carbon Ionic Liquid Electrode with TiO2 Nanopatricle as Enhancer

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) N‐butylpyridinium hexafluorophosphate (BPPF₆) modified carbon paste electrode (CILE) was fabricated and applied to adsorb the hemoglobin (Hb) and TiO₂ nanoparticles on the electrode surface step by step to form a Hb modified electrode noted as TiO₂/Hb/CILE. UV‐Vis and FT‐IR spectra showed that Hb in the film retained its native conformations. Cyclic voltammetric experiments indicated that a pair of well‐defined quasi‐reversible redox peaks appeared with the formal potential (E^0′) located at ?0.251 V (vs. SCE) at pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution (PBS), which was the characteristic of heme Fe(III)/Fe(II) redox couples. Electrochemical parameters of the Hb in the film such as the electron transfer coefficient (α), the electron transfer number (n) and the standard electron transfer rate constant (k_s) were estimated as 0.469, 0.87 and 0.635 s^?1, respectively.     

Redox‐State‐Mediated Regulation of Cytochrome c Release in Apoptosis Revealed by Surface‐Enhanced Raman Scattering on Nickel Substrates

The interaction of cytochrome c (Cyt c) with cardiolipin (CL) is believed to play an important role in the initial events of apoptosis. Herein, we investigate the structural changes of CL‐bound Fe²⁺Cyt c and the correlation with Cyt c release through surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) on nickel substrates. The SERS results together with molecular dynamics simulation reveal that Fe²⁺Cyt c undergoes autoxidation and a relatively larger conformational alteration after binding with CL, inducing higher peroxidase activity of Cyt c and higher permeability of the CL membrane compared with those induced by the Fe³⁺Cyt c. The proapoptotic activity and SERS effect of the Ni nanostructures allow the in situ study of the redox‐state‐dependent Cyt c release from isolated mitochondria, which reveals for the first time that the ferrous state of Cyt c most likely plays a more important role in triggering apoptosis.     

Density Functional Calculations of 55Mn, 14N and 13C Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Parameters Support an Energetically Feasible Model System for the S2 State of the Oxygen‐Evolving Complex of Photosystem II

Metal and ligand hyperfine couplings of a previously suggested, energetically feasible Mn₄Ca model cluster ( SG2009^?1 ) for the S₂ state of the oxygen‐evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II (PSII) have been studied by broken‐symmetry density functional methods and compared with other suggested structural and spectroscopic models. This was carried out explicitly for different spin‐coupling patterns of the S=1/2 ground state of the Mn^III(Mn^IV)₃ cluster. By applying spin‐projection techniques and a scaling of the manganese hyperfine couplings, computation of the hyperfine and nuclear quadrupole coupling parameters allows a direct evaluation of the proposed models in comparison with data obtained from the simulation of EPR, ENDOR, and ESEEM spectra. The computation of ⁵⁵Mn hyperfine couplings (HFCs) for SG2009^?1 gives excellent agreement with experiment. However, at the current level of spin projection, the ⁵⁵Mn HFCs do not appear sufficiently accurate to distinguish between different structural models. Yet, of all the models studied, SG2009^?1 is the only one with the Mn^III site at the Mn_C center, which is coordinated by histidine (D1‐His332). The computed histidine ¹⁴N HFC anisotropy for SG2009^?1 gives much better agreement with ESEEM data than the other models, in which Mn_C is an Mn^IV site, thus supporting the validity of the model. The ¹³C HFCs of various carboxylates have been compared with ¹³C ENDOR data for PSII preparations with ¹³C‐labelled alanine.