title: Vacancy-Engineered Nanoceria: Enzyme Mimetic Hotspots for the Degradation of Nerve Agents.
abstract: Organophosphorus-based nerve agents, such as paraoxon, parathion, and malathion, inhibit acetylcholinesterase, which results in paralysis, respiratory failure, and death. Bacteria are known to use the enzyme phosphotriesterase (PTE) to break down these compounds. In this work, we designed vacancy-engineered nanoceria (VE CeO2 NPs) as PTE mimetic hotspots for the rapid degradation of nerve agents. We observed that the hydrolytic effect of the nanomaterial is due to the synergistic activity between both Ce(3+) and Ce(4+) ions located in the active site-like hotspots. Furthermore, the catalysis by nanoceria overcomes the product inhibition generally observed for PTE and small molecule-based PTE mimetics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-, 560012, India.
authors.forename: Amit A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0071-6757
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Vernekar
authors.affiliation: Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-, 560012, India.
authors.forename: Tandrila
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3398-9877
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-, 560012, India. mugesh@ipc.iisc.ernet.in.
authors.forename: Govindasamy
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5389-5309
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mugesh
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002563:Cerium / Q000737:chemistry*; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D000067397:Nerve Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D000067397:Nerve Agents; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; D002563:Cerium; C030583:ceric oxide
keywords: enzyme models; heterogeneous catalysis; nanozymes; nerve agents; phosphotriesterase