Immobilized enzymes as catalytically-active tools for nanofabrication.
One efficient strategy for creating nanostructures on surfaces is to use the catalytic properties of a surface molecule. This strategy benefits from the amplification and chemical specificity inherent in catalysis. We describe a demonstration of the key step of such a strategy: the surface trapping of a product generated by a nanometer-scale patch of surface-bound enzyme. Nanografting was used to create a approximately 70-nm patch of carboxylic acid groups surrounded by antibiofouling oligio(ethyleneoxide) groups on the surface of a gold ball. A catalytic site was prepared by immobilization of acetylcholine esterase to the carboxylic acid patch, and a product trap was prepared by scratching a small hole in the antibiofouling surface to reveal the gold surface. Two hours after addition of acetylthiocholine, the trap was filled. This demonstrated that the enzyme had catalyzed a reaction and that the product had been used to modify the surface film.
Jang
Chang-Hyun
CH
Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0212, USA.
Stevens
Benjamin D
BD
Carlier
Paul R
PR
Calter
Michael A
MA
Ducker
William A
WA
D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000737:chemistry*; D000122:Acetylthiocholine / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D002384:Catalysis; D004593:Electrophorus; D004800:Enzymes, Immobilized / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*
D004800:Enzymes, Immobilized; D000122:Acetylthiocholine; D006046:Gold; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase