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Biomineralization-inspired copper-cystine nanoleaves capable of laccase-like catalysis for the colorimetric detection of epinephrine

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Abstract

Recently, many efforts have been dedicated to creating enzyme-mimicking catalysts to replace natural enzymes in practical fields. Inspired by the pathological biomineralization behaviour of l-cystine, in this study, we constructed a laccase-like catalyst through the co-assembly of l-cystine with Cu ions. Structural analysis revealed that the formed catalytic Cu-cystine nanoleaves (Cu-Cys NLs) possess a Cu(I)-Cu(II) electron transfer system similar to that in natural laccase. Reaction kinetic studies demonstrated that the catalyst follows the typical Michaelis-Menten model. Compared with natural laccase, the Cu-Cys NLs exhibit superior stability during long-term incubation under extreme pH, high-temperature or high-salt conditions. Remarkably, the Cu-Cys NLs could be easily recovered and still maintained 76% of their activity after 8 cycles. Finally, this laccase mimic was employed to develop a colorimetric method for epinephrine detection, which achieved a wider linear range (9–455 µmol·L−1) and lower limit of detection (2.7 µmol·L−1). The Cu-Cys NLs also displayed excellent specificity and sensitivity towards epinephrine in a test based on urine samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21621004 and 21676191).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Miao Guan, Mengfan Wang, Wei Qi, Rongxin Su & Zhimin He

  2. The Co-Innovation Centre of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Tianjin, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Wei Qi & Rongxin Su

  3. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Membrane Science and Desalination Technology, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Mengfan Wang, Wei Qi & Rongxin Su

Authors
  1. Miao Guan
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  2. Mengfan Wang
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  3. Wei Qi
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Correspondence to Mengfan Wang.

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11705_2020_1940_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Biomineralization-inspired copper-cystine nanoleaves capable of laccase-like catalysis for the colorimetric detection of epinephrine

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Guan, M., Wang, M., Qi, W. et al. Biomineralization-inspired copper-cystine nanoleaves capable of laccase-like catalysis for the colorimetric detection of epinephrine. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 15, 310–318 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-020-1940-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-020-1940-y

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