Mechanism of the Oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-Tetramethylbenzidine Catalyzed by Peroxidase-Like Pt Nanoparticles Immobilized in Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes: A Kinetic Study

Experimental and kinetic modelling studies are presented to investigate the mechanism of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) oxidation by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) catalyzed by peroxidase-like Pt nanoparticles immobilized in spherical polyelectrolyte brushes (SPB−Pt). Due to the high stability of SPB−Pt colloidal, this reaction can be monitored precisely in situ by UV/VIS spectroscopy. The time-dependent concentration of the blue-colored oxidation product of TMB expressed by different kinetic models was used to simulate the experimental data by a genetic fitting algorithm. After falsifying the models with abundant experimental data, it is found that both H₂O₂ and TMB adsorb on the surface of Pt nanoparticles to react, indicating that the reaction follows the Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism. A true rate constant k, characterizing the rate-determining step of the reaction and which is independent on the amount of catalysts used, is obtained for the first time. Furthermore, it is found that the product adsorbes strongly on the surface of nanoparticles, thus inhibiting the reaction. The entire analysis provides a new perspective to study the catalytic mechanism and evaluate the catalytic activity of the peroxidase-like nanoparticles.     

Liposome-Boosted Peroxidase-Mimicking Nanozymes Breaking the pH Limit

Peroxidase-mimicking nanozymes such as Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles are promising substitutes for natural enzymes like horseradish peroxidase. However, most such nanozymes work efficiently only in acidic conditions. In this work, the influence of various liposomes on nanozyme activity was studied. By introducing negatively charged liposomes, peroxidase-mimicking nanozymes achieved oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in neutral and even alkaline conditions, although the activity towards anionic 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) was inhibited. The Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles adsorbed on the liposomes without disrupting membrane integrity as confirmed by fluorescence quenching, dye leakage assays, and cryo-electron microscopy. Stabilization of the blue-colored oxidized products of TMB by electrostatic interactions was believed to be the reason for the enhanced activity. This work has introduced lipids to nanozyme research, and it also has practically important applications for using nanozymes at neutral pH, such as the detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose.     

Smartphone-based colorimetric determination of glucose in food samples based on the intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of nitrogen-doped carbon dots obtained from locusts

In this study, nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) with excellent peroxidase-like activity were prepared using locust powder as the carbon source by a self-exothermic reaction. The obtained N-CDs could catalyze the oxidation of the chromogenic substrate 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of H₂O₂ to generate a blue oxidized product (TMB_ox) with a maximum absorption peak at 654 nm. The catalytic reaction conditions were optimized; furthermore, steady-state kinetic analysis indicated that N-CDs exhibited high affinity toward both TMB and H₂O₂, and the Michaelis-Menten constant (k_m) values were 0.115 mM (TMB) and 0.764 mM (H₂O₂). A smartphone-based colorimetric method was developed for quantitative detection. The 1/L values (L stands for lightness in HSL color space) of the TMB_ox solution were recorded via an iPhone application Color Analyzer. Since H₂O₂ is the by-product of glucose (Glu) oxidation in the presence of glucose oxidase (GOx), a simple, sensitive, and selective smartphone-based colorimetric method was developed for the determination of Glu, and the detection limit was 1.09 μM. The smartphone-based method was successfully applied to determine Glu in different food samples with recoveries in the range of 88.5–109.0 %.     

基于Co3O4纳米粒子的“串联酶”活性检测葡萄糖的表面增强拉曼光谱策略

采用一种简单的湿化学法合成Co₃O₄纳米粒子(NPs),并将其作为一种"串联酶"(同时具有类过氧化物酶和类葡萄糖氧化酶活性)用于过氧化氢(H₂O₂)和葡萄糖的表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)光谱检测。作为一种灵敏的SERS底物,在pH=4.0的NaAc缓冲液条件下,Co₃O₄NPs可以催化葡萄糖和O₂生成葡萄糖酸和H₂O₂。然后H₂O₂可以氧化3,3′,5,5′-四甲基联苯胺(TMB),形成蓝色氧化产物氧化TMB(oxTMB),其在1188、1330、1610 cm^-1处表现出强烈的SERS信号。因此,我们开发了一种新的SERS策略来分析葡萄糖,检测限为1×10^-10mol·L^-1,表明Co₃O₄NPs具有生物传感器、免疫分析和医学研究的潜力。     

Enhanced Peroxidase-mimicking Activity of Plasmonic Gold-modified Mn3O4 Nanocomposites through Photoexcited Hot Electron Transfer

Enzyme-mimicking artificial nanomaterials often termed nanozymes have broad applications in many fields, including biosensing, pollutant degradation and cancer diagnosis. Herein, we introduce a plasmonic gold nanoparticle-modified Mn₃O₄ nanozyme (Mn₃O₄-Au). Visible or near infrared light excitation into the plasmonic absorption band of the surface-bound gold nanoparticles enhances the catalytic oxidation of tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). The mechanism of light-enhanced peroxidase activity is proposed based on the Mn₃O₄ conduction band mediated hot electron transfer from photoexcited gold nanoparticles to H₂O₂ which undergoes further oxygen-oxygen bond cleavage to yield hydroxyl radical. The surface decoration of plasmonic gold nanoparticles endows Mn₃O₄-Au to be a light-regulated nanozyme.     

Peroxidase-like catalytic activity of cubic Pt nanocrystals

Monodispersed cubic platinum (Pt) nanocrystals with an average size of approximately 10 nm were prepared by a reduction method with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) serving as steric stabilizer. The resulting Pt nanocrystals exhibit a peroxidase-like activity and catalyze the H₂O₂-mediated oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to produce two colored products with high catalytic activity. The color-generating activity of this system may be influenced by several factors, and we examined several factors to optimize this colorimetric system including buffer types, pH, and concentrations of both H₂O₂ and Pt nanocrystals. The effect of agglomeration of Pt nanocrystals was also investigated, and we find that agglomeration of Pt nanocrystals in aqueous solution distinctly affects Pt nanocrystals catalytic activity. We attribute the catalytic activity of Pt nanocrystals to their acceleration of the electron-transfer process and the consequent facilitation of radical generation.     

Metal–Organic Framework‐Derived Copper Nanoparticle@Carbon Nanocomposites as Peroxidase Mimics for Colorimetric Sensing of Ascorbic Acid

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as very fascinating functional materials due to their diversity nature. A nanocomposite consisting of copper nanoparticles dispersed within a carbon matrix (Cu NPs@C) is prepared through a one‐pot thermolysis of copper‐based metal–organic framework precursors. Cu NPs@C can catalyze the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′‐tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to form a colored product in the presence of H₂O₂. As a peroxidase mimic, Cu NPs@C not only has the advantages of low cost, high stability, and easy preparation, but also follows Michaelis–Menten behaviors and shows strong affinity to H₂O₂. As the Cu NPs’ surfaces are free from stabilizing agent, Cu NPs@C exhibited a higher affinity to H₂O₂ than horseradish peroxidase. On the basis of the inhibitory effect of ascorbic acid (AA) on oxidation of TMB, this system serves as a colorimetric method for the detection of AA, suggesting that the present work would expand the potential applications of MOF‐derived nanocomposites in biomedical fields.     

Gold nanoparticles as dehydrogenase mimicking nanozymes for estradiol degradation

Nanozyme catalysis has been mainly focused on a few chromogenic and fluorogenic substrates, while environmentally and biologically important compounds need to be tested to advance the field. In this work, we studied oxidation of estradiol (E2) in the presence of various nanomaterials including gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), nanoceria (CeO₂), Fe₃O₄, Fe₂O₃, MnO₂ and Mn₂O₃, and found that AuNPs had a dehydrogenase-mimicking activity to convert E2 to estrone (E1). This conversion was monitored using HPLC. The reaction was faster at higher pH and reached saturation at pH 8. Smaller AuNPs had a higher catalytic efficiency and 5 nm AuNPs were 4.8-fold faster than 13 nm at the same total surface area. Finally, we tried 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) as a substrate and found that 5 nm AuNPs can catalyze EE2 oxidation in the presence of H₂O₂. This work indicated that some nanomaterials can affect environmentally important hormones via oxidation reactions, and this study has expanded the scope of substrate of nanozymes.     

New bienzymatic strategy for glucose determination by immobilized-gold nanoparticle-enhanced chemiluminescence

Bienzymatic biosensor for the determination of glucose by flow injection chemiluminescence (CL) detection was proposed. Hybrids of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and chitosan were chosen as the immobilization matrix of glucose oxidase (GOD) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to fabricate the biosensors with silane-pretreated glass microbeads. After the enzyme catalyzing oxidation of glucose in GOD biosensor, the produced H₂O₂ flowed into HRP biosensor to react with luminol. The doped GNPs in chitosan were found to enhance the classical CL reaction of luminol-H₂O₂-HRP. The CL enhancement was investigated in detail by CL and UV-visible spectrum. Under the optimized experimental conditions, glucose could be determined in a linear range from 0.01 to 6.0 mmol/L with a detection limit of 5.0 μmol/L at 3σ. The accuracy of the proposed method was examined by detecting the glucose level in four clinical serum samples from hospital. The proposed method provides a new alternative to determine glucose. Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. Q2007B03), the Doctoral Fund of Qingdao University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 0022141), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20775038)     

A New Technique for Chemical Deposition of Pt Nanoparticles and its Applications on Biosensor Design

A new glucose biosensor design based on glucose oxidase (GOD) immobilized by polypyrrole has been described in this paper. The polymerization of pyrrole was initiated by a hexachloroplatinate which itself was reduced into Pt nanoparticles and thus served as a catalyst for the H₂O₂ oxidation. Properties of the produced GOD modified electrode were examined and the activity of the entrapped enzyme was determined by basic application on the amperometric detection of glucose. Much better results were found comparatively with the enzyme electrode for which the enzyme was entrapped by the electrochemically polymerized polypyrrole. This kind of technique for Pt nanoparticles deposition can be generalized to many cases where polypyrrole is used.     

β‐AgVO3 Nanorods as Peroxidase Mimetic for Colorimetric Determination of Glucose

β‐AgVO₃ nanorods have been demonstrated to exhibit intrinsic peroxidase‐like activity. The oxidation of glucose can be catalyzed by glucose oxidase (GOx ) to generate H₂O₂ in the presence of O₂ . The β‐AgVO₃ nanorods can catalytically oxidize peroxidase substrates including o‐phenylenediamine (OPD ), 3,3′,5,5′‐tetramethylbenzidine (TMB ), and diammonium 2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonate) (ABTS ) by H₂O₂ to produce typical color reactions: OPD from colorless to orange, TMB from colorless to blue, and ABTS from colorless to green. The catalyzed reaction by the β‐AgVO₃ nanorods was found to follow the characteristic Michaelis–Menten kinetics. Compared with horseradish peroxidase and AgVO₃ nanobelts, β‐AgVO₃ nanorods showed a higher affinity for TMB with a lower Michaelis–Menten constant (K _m) value (0.04118 mM ) at the optimal condition. Taking advantage of their high catalytic activity, the as‐synthesized β‐AgVO₃ nanorods were utilized to develop a colorimetric sensor for the determination of glucose. The linear range for glucose was 1.25–60 μM with the lower detection limit of 0.5 μM . The simple and sensitive GOx ‐β–AgVO₃ nanorods–TMB sensing system shows great promise for applications in the pharmaceutical, clinical, and biosensor detection of glucose.     

Uncapped nanobranch-based CuS clews used as an efficient peroxidase mimic enable the visual detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose with fast response

Nanosized materials acting as substitutes of natural enzymes are currently attracting significant research due to their stable enzyme-like characteristics, but some flaws of these nanozymes, including their limited catalytic rate and efficiency, need to be remedied to enable their wider applications. In this work, we verify for the first time the catalytic behavior of uncapped nanobranch-based CuS clews as a peroxidase mimic. XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM proofs demonstrate that high-purity CuS clews composed of intertwined wires with abundant nanodendrites outside are successfully produced via a facile one-pot hydrothermal synthesis approach, with thiourea as both the sulfion source and the structure-directing agent. The synthesized CuS can catalytically oxidize 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by H₂O₂ to trigger a visible color reaction with rapid response (reaching a maximum change within 5 min). The proposed CuS nanozyme exhibits preferable catalytic kinetics over natural horseradish peroxidase (HRP). This outstanding activity primarily results from the large surface area and rich sites exposed by the uncapped unique structure. Under optimized conditions, the fabricated sensing system provides linear absorbance (652 nm) changes in the H₂O₂ concentration range of 0.2˜130 μM, with a detection limit of as low as 63 nM. When coupled with glucose oxidase (GOD), the system is demonstrated to be capable of monitoring glucose in blood samples with excellent performance.     

Hydrogen Peroxide Detection at Electrochemically and Sol‐Gel Derived Ir Oxide Films

Ir oxide (IrOx) films, formed electrochemically on bulk Ir metal (Ir/IrOx) and also on sol‐gel (SG) derived non‐silica based nanoparticulate Ir, have been studied as material useful for the detection of hydrogen peroxide, with possible application as a glucose biosensor. H₂O₂ reduction and oxidation on Ir/IrOx and SG‐derived IrOx films, deposited on various substrates such as Pt, Ir and GC, have been compared to the H₂O₂ behavior at the bare substrate. It was found that H₂O₂ reduction proceeds on the underlying electrode substrate, while H₂O₂ oxidation is independent of the nature of the substrate, therefore occurring via the IrOx film. The reactivity of IrOx towards H₂O₂ oxidation is similar to that seen at Pt, although IrOx has the additional advantages of excellent stability, insensitivity to common interfering substances, biocompatibility and a linear range of detection, up to at least 12 mM H₂O_2. At micromolar concentrations of H₂O₂, a second mode of detection, involving the catalyzed growth of IrOx films at Ir substrates, can be employed. These two methods of H₂O₂ analysis (oxidation/reduction and enhanced IrOx growth) can also be employed for glucose detection using IrOx‐based glucose biosensors.     

Oxidation of Carbon Supports at Fuel Cell Cathodes: Differential Electrochemical Mass Spectrometric Study

The effects of O₂ and the supported Pt nano-particles on the mechanisms and kinetics of the carbon support corrosion are investigated by monitoring the CO₂ production using differential electrochemical mass spectrometry in a dual-thin layer flow cell. Carbon can be oxidized in different distinct potential regimes; O₂ accelerates carbon oxidation, the rates of CO₂ production from carbon oxidation in O₂ saturated solution are two times of that in N₂ saturated solution at the same potential; Pt can catalyze the carbon oxidation, with supported Pt nanoparticles, the overpotential for carbon oxidation is much smaller than that without loading in the carbon electrode. The mechanism for the enhanced carbon oxidation by Pt and O₂ are discussed.     

A nanoporous palladium(II) bridged coordination polymer acting as a peroxidase mimic in a method for visual detection of glucose in tear and saliva

A nanoporous coordination polymer (NPCP) was prepared from palladium(II) chloride and 4-amino-3-hydrazino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole and is shown to act as a peroxidase mimetic. It can catalyze the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by H₂O₂ which is formed on enzymatic oxidation of glucose by glucose oxidase. Based on these findings, a sensitive glucose test was worked out at 652 nm where the intensity if the greenish-blue product is related to the actual concentration of glucose. Figures of merit include (a) rather low Km value (30 μM) which evidences the strong binding affinity of the NPCP toward glucose, (b) a high v_(max) (8.5 M·s^?1), (c) a 47 nM detection limit, (d) a lifetime of a month, (e) a wide working pH range (2–10), and (f) a 25–80 °C temperature range. The assay was applied to non-invasive determination of glucose assay in tear, saliva where the detection limits are found to be 61 and 91 nM, respectively.

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Graphical abstract DSchematic of the mechanism of the peroxidase like catalytic activity of AHMT-Pd NPCP that was applied in a selective colorimetric method for glucose detection based on TMB oxidation in the presence of enzymatically generated H₂O₂.

     

Bound oxygen-atom transfer endows peroxidase-mimic M–N–C with high substrate selectivity

Advances in nanoscience have stimulated the wide exploration of nanozymes as alternatives to enzymes. Nonetheless, nanozymes often catalyze multiple reactions and are not specialized to a specific substrate, restricting their broad application. Here, we report that the substrate selectivity of the peroxidase-mimic M–N–C can be significantly altered via forming bound intermediates with variable interactions with substrates according to the type of metal. Taking two essential reactions in chemical sensing as an example, Fe–N–C and Co–N–C showed opposite catalytic selectivity for the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and 3-aminophthalhydrazide (luminol), respectively, by factors of up to 200-fold. It was revealed that specific transition metal-N coordination was the origin of the selective activation of H₂O₂ forming critically bound oxygen intermediates (M O) for oxygen-atom transfer and the consequent oxidization of substrates. Notably, owing to the embedded ligands in the rigid graphitic framework, surprisingly, the selectivity of M–N–C was even superior to that of commonly used horseradish peroxidase (HRP).

Learning principles from biology, this work highlights the great potential of biomimetic bound-intermediates in endow nanozymes with high reaction selectivity towards industrial reactions previously not accessible to biology.     

Preparation of selective micro glucose sensor without permselective membrane by electrochemical deposition of ruthenium and glucose oxidase

A carbon fiber microelectrode, surface of which ruthenium and glucose oxidase (GOx) were electrochemically codeposited, has been investigated. The Ru deposition onto the microelectrode increased current response to H₂O₂ oxidation, while decreased oxidation currents due to interfering substances, such as ascorbic acid, uric acid, p-acetamidophenol, l-cysteine and dopamine. The codeposition of Ru and GOx gave further suppression of the interfering signals with keeping the current response to H₂O₂. When amperometric glucose sensing was conducted by using the GOx and Ru modified microelectrode, an increase in GOx concentration in the deposition bath enlarged oxidation current of H₂O₂ generated from glucose oxidation by GOx. The presence of ascorbic acid in analyte gave no error in detection of glucose and errors caused by uric acid was +3% at the most for measuring 5 mM glucose, which is the normal physiological level in blood.     

A novel amperometric biosensor based on gold nanoparticles-mesoporous silica composite for biosensing glucose

We report a novel bienzyme biosensor based on the assembly of the glucose oxidase (GOD) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) onto the gold nanoparticles encapsulated mesoporous silica SBA-15 composite (AuNPs-SBA-15). Electrochemical behavior of the bienzyme bioconjugates biosensor is studied by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results indicate that the presence of mesoporous AuNPs-SBA-15 greatly enhanced the protein loadings, accelerated interfacial electron transfer of HRP and the electroconducting surface, resulting in the realization of direct electrochemistry of HRP. Owing to the electrocatalytic effect of AuNPs-SBA-15 composite, the biosensor exhibits a sensitive response to H₂O₂ generated from enzymatic reactions. Thus the bienzyme biosensor could be used for the detection of glucose without the addition of any mediator. The detection limit of glucose was 0.5 μM with a linear range from 1 to 48 μM. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20635020 & 90606016)     

Determination of hydrogen peroxide and glucose using a novel sensor platform based on Co0.4Fe0.6LaO3 nanoparticles

We report on a novel nonenzymatic sensor platform for the determination of hydrogen peroxide and glucose. It is based on a carbon paste electrode that was modified with Co_0.4Fe_0.6LaO₃ nanoparticles synthesized by the sol–gel method. The structure and morphology of Co_0.4Fe_0.6LaO₃ nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical performance of this sensor was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and amperometry, and the results demonstrated that it exhibits strong electrocatalytical activity towards the oxidation of H₂O₂ and glucose in an alkaline medium. The sensor has a limit of detection as low as 2.0 nM of H₂O₂ and a linear range that extends from 0.01 to 800 μM. The response to glucose is characterized by two analytical ranges of different slope, viz. from 0.05 to 5 μM and from 5 to 500 μM, with a 10 nM limit of detection. The glucose sensor has a fast response and good long term stability.

Bioelectrocatalytic current based on direct heterogeneous electron transfer reaction of glucose oxidase adsorbed onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized on platinum electrode surfaces

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized on platinum plate electrodes by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The MWCNTs synthesized on the Pt plate (MWCNTs/Pt) electrode were immediately immersed into solutions of glucose oxidase (GOX) to immobilize these enzymes onto the MWCNTs/Pt electrode surfaces. After the GOX was immobilized onto the MWCNTs/Pt electrode, a well-defined catalytic oxidation current was increased from ca. −0.45 V (vs. Ag/AgCl/saturated KCl), which was close to the redox potential of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) as a prosthetic group of GOX under physiological pH values.