Zhaohong Su

Fabrication of a chitosan/glucose oxidase–poly(anilineboronic acid)–Aunano/Au-plated Au electrode for biosensor and biofuel cell

Enzyme immobilization is one of the key factors in constructing high-performance enzyme biosensors and biofuel cells (BFCs). Herein, we propose a new protocol for efficient immobilization of a glycoprotein enzyme based on the interaction of the 1, 2- or 1, 3-diols in the glycoprotein with a boronic acid functionalized monomer. Briefly, casting a mixture of glucose oxidase (GOx) and anilineboronic acid (ABA) followed by a NaAuCl(4) solution to an Au-plated Au electrode surface yielded a GOx-poly(ABA) (PABA)-gold nanoparticle (Au(nano)) bionanocomposite, and chitosan (CS) was then cast and air-dried. In the present protocol, the small-sized Au(nano) or Au subnanostructures can form near/on the enzyme molecule, which greatly promotes the electron transfer of enzymatic reaction and enhances the amperometric responses. The thus-prepared CS/GOx-PABA-Au(nano)/Au-plated Au electrode worked well in the first-/second generation biosensing modes and as a bioanode in a monopolar biofuel cell, with analytical or cell-power performance superior to those of most analogues hitherto reported.

Preparation of thiolated polymeric nanocomposite for sensitive electroanalysis of dopamine

We report on the thiol-ene chemistry guided preparation of novel thiolated polymeric nanocomposite films of abundant anionic carboxylic groups for electrostatic enrichment and sensitive electroanalysis of cationic dopamine (DA) in neutral solution. Briefly, the thiol-ene nucleophilic reaction of a carboxylated thiol with oxidized polypyrrole (PPy), which was electrosynthesized on an Au electrode in the presence of solution-dispersed acidified multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), produced an a PPy-thiol-MWCNTs/Au electrode, and the PPy can be electrochemically overoxidized (OPPy) to form an OPPy-thiol-MWCNTs/Au electrode. The carboxylic groups of the polymeric nanocomposite film originate from the acidified MWCNTs, PPy-tethered carboxylated thiol, and OPPy. The carboxylated thiols examined are mercaptosuccinic acid (MSA) and thioglycolic acid, with β-mercaptoethanol as a control. Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy were used for film characterization and process monitoring. Under the optimized condition, the differential pulse voltammetry peak current of DA oxidation at OPPy-MSA-MWCNTs/Au electrode is linear with DA concentration from 1.00×10(-9) to 2.87×10(-6) mol L(-1), with a limit of detection of 0.4 nmol L(-1), good anti-interferent ability and stability.

Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance study of covalent tethering of carboxylated thiol to polyaniline for electrocatalyzed oxidation of ascorbic acid in neutral aqueous solution.

The electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) was used to study the electrosyntheses and electrochemical properties of two kinds of polyaniline (PANI)-thiol composite films in aqueous solutions, which were prepared by covalent binding of a thiol to the oxidized forms of PANI (PANI(post)-thiol, protocol A), and electropolymerization of aniline in the presence of a thiol (PANI(poly)-thiol, protocol B), respectively. The thiols involved were mercaptosuccinic acid (MSA), thioglycolic acid (TGA) and beta-mercaptoethanol (ME). The PANI(post)-thiol binding processes were monitored in situ with the EQCM, giving molar binding ratios (r, thiol vs. aniline unit of the polymer) of ca. 0.50 at saturation for these thiols. Both PANI(post)-thiol and PANI(poly)-thiol composite films from the carboxylated thiols showed a controllable electroactivity of the PANI moiety in neutral even weakly alkaline phosphate buffer solutions (PBS), with maximum electroactivity roughly at r = 0.11 for PANI(post)-MSA or at r = 0.21 for PANI(post)-TGA. The PANI-thiol interaction was also supported by experiments of scanning electron microscopy, electrochemical surface plasmon resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and the interaction mechanism is briefly discussed. The PANI(post)-thiol and PANI(poly)-thiol composite films from the carboxylated thiols effectively electrocatalyzed the oxidation of ascorbic acid in pH = 7.3 PBS, and the PANI(post)-thiol exhibited electrocatalytic activity higher than the relevant PANI(poly)-thiol under our experimental conditions. The covalent anchoring of anionic thiol groups on the PANI backbone to prepare electroactive PANI in neutral solutions is conceptually new and may be extended to the development of new functional materials from many other conducting polymers and thiols for wide applications in catalysis, biosensing, molecular electronics, and so on.

35 MHz quartz crystal microbalance and surface plasmon resonance studies on the binding of angiotensin converting enzyme with lisinopril.

Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) plays a pivotal role in blood pressure regulation, and its interaction with an ACE inhibitor (ACEI) is an important research topic for treatment of hypertension. Herein, a low reagent consumption, multiparameter and highly sensitive quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) at 35-MHz fundamental frequency was utilized to monitor in situ the binding process of solution lisinopril (LIS, a carboxylic third-generation ACEI) to ACE adsorbed at a 1-dodecanethiol (C12SH)-modified Au electrode. From the QCM data, the binding molar ratio (r) of LIS to adsorbed ACE was estimated to be 2.3:1, and the binding and dissociation rate constants (k(1) and k(-1)) and the binding equilibrium constant (K(a)) were estimated to be k(1)=4.1×10(6) L mol(-1) s(-1), k(-1)=7.3×10(-3) s(-1) and K(a)=5.62×10(8) L mol(-1), respectively. Comparable qualitative and quantitative results were also obtained from separate experiments of cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance measurements.

Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Impedance and Fluorescence Quenching Studies on the Binding of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs)-Adsorbed and Solution Rutin with Hemoglobin

Electrochemical quartz crystal impedance (QCI) technique was utilized to monitor in situ the adsorption of rutin (RT) onto a carbon nanotubes (CNTs)‐modified gold electrode and to study the binding process of solution hemoglobin (Hb) to RT immobilized on the electrode. Time courses of the QCI parameters including crystal resonant frequency were simultaneously obtained during the RT adsorption and Hb‐RT binding. In contrast to the negligible RT adsorption at a bare gold electrode, the modification by CNTs notably enhanced the amount of adsorption, and almost all of the adsorbed RT molecules were found to be electroactive. On the basis of the frequency response from the binding of adsorbed RT to solution Hb and the diminished electroactivity of adsorbed RT after the formation of the electrochemically inactive RT‐Hb adduct, the average binding molar ratio of adsorbed RT to Hb was estimated to be 23.9:1, and the association constant (Ka) for the binding was estimated to be 2.87 × 106 (frequency) and 3.92 × 106 (charge) L mol−1, respectively. Comparable results were obtained from fluorescence quenching measurements in mixed solutions containing RT of fixed concentration and Hb of varying concentrations, demonstrating that the interfacial RT here behaved equivalently in the RT‐Hb binding activity compared to that in solution. This work may have presented a new and general protocol involving CNTs to study many other electroactive natural antioxidants or drugs that are at the interface or in solution, their binding with proteins or other biomolecules, and changes of their antioxidant activity after the binding.