Premium
Hydrolytic Nanozymes
Author(s) -
Gabrielli Luca,
Prins Leonard J.,
Rastrelli Federico,
Mancin Fabrizio,
Scrimin Paolo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of organic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1099-0690
pISSN - 1434-193X
DOI - 10.1002/ejoc.202000356
Subject(s) - chemistry , cleave , catalysis , nanotechnology , hydrolysis , combinatorial chemistry , substrate (aquarium) , organic chemistry , enzyme , oceanography , materials science , geology
In 2004 we first reported catalytic nanoparticles, that are able to cleave phosphate diesters with very high efficiency ( Angew. Chem. Int Ed , 2004 , 43 , 6165–6169) and dubbed them “nanozymes” for the similarity of their behavior with natural enzymes, both in terms of efficiency and mechanism of action. Since then the field has impressively expanded and a search on the web of science at the time of submitting this contribution returned almost 1,000 entries. This minireview highlights what has been done in the field focusing specifically on hydrolytic nanozymes, the focal point of the research in our group since its very beginning. Special emphasis is given to the advantage of bringing catalytic units in the confined space of a nanosystem in terms of inducing the cooperation between them, favoring the interaction with substrates, and altering the local environment. We will try to answer to questions like: why can a lipophilic substrate be transformed by these catalysts even in an aqueous environment? Why may the pH in the catalytic loci of the nanosystem be different from that of the bulk solution even in the presence of buffers? Why are most of these nanosystems better than monovalent ones?