0000000000237592
AUTHOR
Ron Wever
Vanadium pentoxide nanoparticles mimic vanadium haloperoxidases and thwart biofilm formation
Marine biofouling—the colonization of small marine microorganisms on surfaces that are directly exposed to seawater, such as ships' hulls—is an expensive problem that is currently without an environmentally compatible solution1. Biofouling leads to increased hydrodynamic drag, which, in turn, causes increased fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Tributyltin-free antifouling coatings and paints1, 2, 3, 4 based on metal complexes or biocides have been shown to efficiently prevent marine biofouling. However, these materials can damage5 the environment through metal leaching (for example, of copper and zinc)6 and bacteria resistance7. Here, we show that vanadium pentoxide nanowires ac…
V2O5 nanowires with an intrinsic peroxidase-like activity
V2O5 nanowires exhibit an intrinsic catalytic activity towards classical peroxidase substrates such as 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and 3,3,5,5,-tetramethylbenzdine (TMB) in the presence of H2O2. These V2O5 nanowires show an optimum reactivity at a pH of 4.0 and the catalytic activity is dependent on the concentration. The Michaelis-Menten kinetics of the ABTS oxidation over these nanowires reveals a behavior similar to that of their natural vanadium-dependent haloperoxidase (V-HPO) counterparts. The V2O5 nanowires mediate the oxidation of ABTS in the presence of H2O2 with a turnover frequency (k(cat)) of 2.5 x 10(3) s(-1). The K-M values of the V2O5 nanowire…
V2O5 nanowires with an intrinsic iodination activity leading to the formation of self-assembled melanin-like biopolymers
V2O5 nanowires act as biomimetic catalysts resembling vanadium haloperoxidases (V-HPO). The nanowires display iodinating activity as confirmed by a colorimetric assay using thymol blue (TB), UV/Vis spectrophotometry and mass spectrometry (FD-MS). In the presence of dopamine these nanowires catalyze the fast and efficient synthesis of melanin-like biopolymers under mild conditions (aqueous solution, neutral pH and room temperature). The resulting melanin-like biopolymer obtained by the V2O5 nanowire catalysts was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis, FT-IR and electric conductivity resembling the natural biopolymer both in its chemical and morphologi…