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Copper(II) ions enhance the peroxidase-like activity and stability of keratin-capped gold nanoclusters for the colorimetric detection of glucose

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Abstract

A method is described for the preparation of copper(II)-modified keratin-capped gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with adjustable Au/Cu molar ratio through a two-step synthetic route. The introduction of Cu(II) is known to cause quenching of the fluorescence of such AuNCs. It is found, however, that the Cu(II) loaded AuNC (AuNC-Cu2+) display strongly enhanced peroxidase-like activity and improved chemical stability. This is assumed to be due to the synergistic effect of the gold and copper atoms and in contrast to the single components (pure AuNCs and copper ions). The kinetic parameters of the new peroxidase mimic show a higher Kcat value (12.1 × 10−4 s−1) and a lower Km value (53 μM) for H2O2 (compared to those of conventional AuNCs). The catalytic activity is stable and remains essentially unchanged after two months. The interactions of AuNCs with Cu(II) were characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Based on these findings, a glucose colorimetric assay at 452 nm was developed that has a detection range from 1.6 to 800 μM and a 0.26 μM detection limit.

Copper ion-modified keratin-capped gold nanoclusters (AuNC-Cu2+) exhibit enhanced peroxidase-like activity owing to the synergistic effect of the gold and copper atoms which is in contrast to pure AuNCs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 21806103 and 21601121).

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  1. Shuyi Ma and Jinjie Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, 333 Longteng Road, Shanghai, 201620, People’s Republic of China

    Shuyi Ma, Jinjie Wang, Jingxia Yang, Derun Ding & Min Zhang

  2. College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai, 201620, People’s Republic of China

    Guang Yang

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  1. Shuyi Ma
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Correspondence to Jinjie Wang or Min Zhang.

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Ma, S., Wang, J., Yang, G. et al. Copper(II) ions enhance the peroxidase-like activity and stability of keratin-capped gold nanoclusters for the colorimetric detection of glucose. Microchim Acta 186, 271 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3395-8

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