Amino Acid and Au(III) Self-Assembled Supramolecular Nanozymes for Antimicrobial Applications

The construction of highly catalytic nanozymes that are composed of biomolecules remains a difficulty due to complicated synthesis methods and poor catalytic efficiencies. In this study, the authors fabricated noble metal ion supramolecular nanospheres (Fmoc-His-Au) through the combination of electrostatic adsorption and multifarious weak intermolecular force between AuCl 4 – and amphipathic histidine. The synthesis procedure is extremely simple and easy, and the noncovalent bond interactions between amphiphilic histidine and AuCl 4 – facilitated the constitution of supramolecular nanostructures and simultaneously stabilized the highly active AuCl 4 – center, which exhibited great peroxidase (POD)- and oxidase (OXD)-like capacities that could efficaciously transform the dissolved oxygen and H 2 O 2 to reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, this simple and innovative nanozyme displayed a preeminent antibacterial and wound healing performance both for Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria in vitro and in vivo, with the bacteria inhibition percentage of over 98% for S. aureus and E. coli, and exhibited benign biocompatibility and low toxicity. This study paves the way for designing outstanding catalytic enzyme-like supramolecular nanostructures composed of simple amino acids and metal ions for wide nanomedical and pharmaceutical applications.