title: Nano-gold as artificial enzymes: hidden talents.
abstract: Creating artificial enzymes that mimic the complexity and function of natural systems has been a great challenge for the past two decades. In this Progress Report, the focus is on recently discovered "hidden talents" of gold nanomaterials in artificial enzymes, including mimicking of nuclease, esterase, silicatein, glucose oxidase, peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase. These unexpected enzyme-like activities can be ascribed to nano-gold itself or the functional groups present on surrounding monolayer. Along with introducing the mechanisms of the various enzyme-like activities, the design and development of gold-based biomimetic catalysts, the search for efficient modulators, and their potential applications in bionics, biosensing, and biomedical sciences are highlighted. Eventually, it is expected that the rapidly growing interest in gold-based nanozymes will certainly fuel the excitement and stimulate research in this highly active field.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, China.
authors.forename: Youhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jinsong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Xiaogang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D004795:Enzyme Stability; D004798:Enzymes / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D006046:Gold
keywords: artificial enzyme; bionics; catalyst; gold nanoparticle; natural enzyme