The goal of biomimetic chemistry to emulate the structural and functional aspects of natural enzymes. Nature has served as a source of inspiration for “designing” artificial enzymes. Much effort has been invested in the synthesis of (supra)molecular models that are more stable and cost efficient than their natural counterparts. Although functions of enzymes are governed by the enzyme dynamics, an enzyme is typically much larger than its substrate and the reaction environment it exposes is so different from the surrounding solvent that it may be considered a solid catalyst. The radii of enzymes and nanoparticles are comparable to nanometer-sized cellular features, and the interactions of enzymes and nanoparticles with soluble molecules have comparable strength.<br/>Nanoparticles are highly reactive, they are stabilized in solution with ligands, surfactants, or polymers and their activity and selectivity are determined by characteristics such as size and the facets they expose. The most active particles in catalysis have diameters of a few nanometers, i.e. they contain only a few hundred atoms. Their reactivity may even be higher than that of enzymes, because <i>any</i> surface site can be catalytically active, whereas enzymes have only a single binding site, although with exceptional. Therefore, enzyme mimetic catalysis with nanoparticles has been successful in cases, where small species (peroxides, superoxides or sulfites) are involved and steric demands play only a minor role for the specificity of the reaction.<br/>Different from most enzymes, nanoparticle mimics can also operate in non-aqueous systems, and they are available by cost-efficient synthesis up to industrial-scale. Of all nanoparticles discussed, vanadium oxide, cerium oxide, copper hydroxide, iron oxide, molybdenum oxide and ternary examples from the spinel and perovskite family showed catalytic activities and stabilities comparable or superior to those of natural enzymes. We highlight recent progress in the field of enzymatically active inorganic nanomaterials and illustrate new applications in antifouling, wound healing, water and gas purification, or fiber staining.

Applications of inorganic nanoparticle enzyme mimics

2019 Fall National Meeting

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