Copper nanoparticles made using dendrimers as a template were used to catalyze the decomposition of s-nitrosocysteine (CysNO) into nitric oxide (NO) and cysteine.  Nitric oxide has many potential applications in medical technology because it is a biological signaling molecule that functions as part of the immune response.  PAMAM dendrimers were used to create these copper dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles (DENs).  The CysNO decomposition reaction was monitored using UV-vis spectroscopy; CysNO has a strong absorption peak at 337 nm which decreases as the reaction progresses.  The reaction, when catalyzed by G4-OH(Cu15) DENs, was shown to be significantly faster than controls including no catalyst, copper (II) ions, and unreduced copper-dendrimer complex.  The reaction was also almost completely halted, even in the presence of copper DENs, by the addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), with no significant decrease in CysNO over time.  This suggests that, although zerovalent copper nanoparticles appear to increase the reaction rate to to the greatest extent, the active catalyst may be soluble copper that can be chelated by EDTA.

Copper dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles as catalysts of the production of nitric oxide

247th National Meeting (2014)

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