Bimetal Biomimetic Engineering Utilizing Metal–Organic Frameworks for Superoxide Dismutase Mimic

In the past decade, scientists sought to engineer nanomaterials with natural enzymes-like biological function, and searched for newfangled applications. Herein, we show the first example of utilizing a bimetal metal–organic framework (MOF-818) platform for mimicking of Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD), an important antioxidant enzyme that specifically scavenges superoxide anions. Experimental data and theoretical calculations reveal that the high Cu/Zn-SOD-like activity of MOF-818 results from the bimetal synergistic catalysis, which is analogous to natural Cu/Zn-SOD. Such a bimetal biomimetic process allows for MOF-818 with much higher SOD-like activity, compared to the reported monometallic MOFs mimics. Moreover, the SOD-like MOF-818 displays excellent stability against heating, organic solvents, and denaturant treatments, which should inactivate natural enzymes. Based on the catalytic mechanism, we also construct a MOF-818-based colorimetric sensing platform for phosphorylated peptides and proteins detection. This work provides a new insight for biomimetic engineering, and may expedite the scale-up applications of SOD-like nanozymes in various fields.