Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, PR China.
Nat Nanotechnol. 2012 Jun 3;7(7):428-32. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2012.80.
Flower-shaped inorganic nanocrystals have been used for applications in catalysis and analytical science, but so far there have been no reports of 'nanoflowers' made of organic components. Here, we report a method for creating hybrid organic-inorganic nanoflowers using copper (II) ions as the inorganic component and various proteins as the organic component. The protein molecules form complexes with the copper ions, and these complexes become nucleation sites for primary crystals of copper phosphate. Interaction between the protein and copper ions then leads to the growth of micrometre-sized particles that have nanoscale features and that are shaped like flower petals. When an enzyme is used as the protein component of the hybrid nanoflower, it exhibits enhanced enzymatic activity and stability compared with the free enzyme. This is attributed to the high surface area and confinement of the enzymes in the nanoflowers.
花状无机纳米晶体已被用于催化和分析科学等领域，但迄今为止，还没有关于由有机成分制成的“纳米花”的报道。在这里，我们报告了一种使用铜（II）离子作为无机成分和各种蛋白质作为有机成分来制造混合有机-无机纳米花的方法。蛋白质分子与铜离子形成配合物，这些配合物成为磷酸铜初级晶体的成核位点。然后，蛋白质与铜离子之间的相互作用导致具有纳米级特征且形状像花瓣的微米级颗粒的生长。当将酶用作混合纳米花的蛋白质成分时，与游离酶相比，其表现出增强的酶活性和稳定性。这归因于酶在纳米花中的高表面积和受限。
