Prussian blue nanoparticles encapsulated inside a metal–organic framework via in situ growth as promising peroxidase mimetics for enzyme inhibitor screening

Abstract

Artificial enzyme mimics are of current research interest owing to their remarkable advantages over natural enzymes. Herein, as a novel peroxidase mimic material, MIL-101(Cr)@PB was fabricated by encapsulating Prussian blue (PB) nanoparticles into the host matrix of MIL-101(Cr) via a facile and mild in situ growth synthetic strategy. The crystallographic characteristics, morphology, and porosity of the as-synthesized MIL-101(Cr)@PB composites were carefully studied using XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA, and BET. The results show that the synthesized MIL-101(Cr)@PB possesses a reproducible and impressive intrinsic peroxidase-like activity even under extreme conditions. Exploiting this, a colorimetric platform for screening xanthine oxidase inhibitors was constructed. We hope that this work will elucidate the applications of metal–organic frameworks as carriers for enzyme mimics and enable a wider application in drug screening.