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Mimicking peroxidase active site microenvironment by functionalized graphene quantum dots

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Abstract

The development of high-efficiency peroxidase mimetics is highly desirable in view of high cost and low stability of natural enzymes. From the perspective of mimicking active site microenvironment at low cost, we herein report a novel histidine-functionalized graphene quantum dot (His-GQD)/hemin complex, which exhibits the highest catalytic rate for the peroxidase-based chromogenic reaction among the hemin-containing mimetics reported so far. Also, our peroxidase mimetic shows excellent tolerance to strongly acidic conditions and can function in a wide temperature range. Lineweaver-Burk plots and comprehensive electron paramagnetic resonance analysis reveal a ping-pong type catalytic mechanism for this mimetic. In addition, His-GQD/hemin demonstrates high efficiency and accuracy in detecting H2O2 and blood glucose. Our work provides an effective design of artificial enzymes for practical applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support for this work from the National Key R&D Program “nanotechnology” special focus (No. 2016YFA0201600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21422303, 21573049, 21872043, and 81602643), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. 2142036), and the Knowledge Innovation Program, Youth Innovation Promotion Association, and Special Program of “One Belt One Road” of CAS. The authors thank Dr. Dexing Li for the technique support and many helpful discussions for the ITC testing.

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  1. Qi Xin and Xinrui Jia contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Center of Excellence for Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory for Nanosystem & Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, 11 Beiyitiao Zhongguancun, Beijing, 100190, China

    Qi Xin, Xinrui Jia, Asmat Nawaz, Wenjing Xie & Jian Ru Gong

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xinrui Jia, Asmat Nawaz & Jian Ru Gong

  3. Department of Orthopaedics, the 309th Hospital of the PLA, Beijing, 100091, China

    Litao Li

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  1. Qi Xin
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Correspondence to Jian Ru Gong.

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Xin, Q., Jia, X., Nawaz, A. et al. Mimicking peroxidase active site microenvironment by functionalized graphene quantum dots. Nano Res. 13, 1427–1433 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2678-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2678-z

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