The 20th Anniversary of Hydrolytic Nanozymes: New Insights and Developments

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy and Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2024) | Viewed by 982

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste, via Giorgieri, 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy
Interests: supramolecular chemistry; nanosystems; self-organized systems; catalysis; transport processes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Twenty years ago, in 2004, the term “nanozyme” was introduced in the chemical literature in relation to a functional nanoparticle able to cleave phosphate diesters bonds with high efficiency and with a mechanism mimicking that of natural phosphate cleaving enzymes (see: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Eng. 2004, 43, 6165–6169). Since then, the term nanozyme has been developed and extended to nanosystems able to perform the most diverse reactions with mechanisms and, most importantly, with efficiencies like those of natural proteins. A search of the Scopus database returned more than 5000 records using the keyword nanozyme. In total, Ca. 10% of these entries concern hydrolytic nanozymes. In addition, research on the mimicry of hydrolytic enzymes has increased in the last thirty years of the previous millennium using nanosystems, mostly micellar and vesicular aggregates. Today, we would certainly define those systems as nanozymes.

To celebrate this anniversary, we are launching this Special Issue of Nanomaterials on “Hydrolytic Nanozymes”. We are particularly proud of this Special Issue as we actively took part in the research on hydrolytic micellar and vesicular catalysis of the last century and are involved in the most recent study on hydrolytic metallic nanosystems. We have hence witnessed the evolution of this field from the very beginning to the most recent and exciting developments.

Hydrolysis is probably one of the most important reactions catalyzed by natural enzymes. Hydrolytic enzymes process food, edit DNA and RNA and, in general, convert complex molecules into simple ones. In order to be carried out under mild conditions of pH and temperature, a hydrolytic process requires a catalyst that has been very carefully designed to optimize nucleophilic and electrophilic catalysis and often operates in a concerted way.

We are looking for contributions that deal with hydrolytic processes catalyzed by nanosystems including (but not limited to) micellar and vesicular systems, polymers, metal nanoparticles, nanoclusters, and metal organic frameworks, with sizes ranging from a few to several hundred nanometers.

Original research is particularly welcome, but reviews and feature articles will also be considered. In these latter cases, the authors are encouraged to contact the editors irst to avoid contributions overlapping in scope.

We are convinced that this Special Issue will constitute a milestone in the research on “hydrolytic nanozymes”, 20 years after this term was first coined.

Prof. Dr. Paolo M. Scrimin
Prof. Paolo Tecilla
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hydrolysis
  • micelle
  • vesicle
  • nanoparticle
  • metal–organic frameworks
  • cleavage
  • hydrolase
  • nuclease
  • enzyme mimic
  • nanozyme

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 1515 KiB  
Article
Molecularly Imprinted Nanozymes for Selective Hydrolysis of Aromatic Carbonates Under Mild Conditions
by Tien Tan Bui and Yan Zhao
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(3), 169; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15030169 - 23 Jan 2025
Viewed by 656
Abstract
Aliphatic polycarbonate (PC) can be readily hydrolyzed by lipase, but bisphenol A-derived PC (i.e., BPA-PC) lacks enzyme catalysts for their efficient hydrolysis due to the high hydrophobicity and rigidity of its polymer backbone. This study aims to develop an artificial nanozyme for the [...] Read more.
Aliphatic polycarbonate (PC) can be readily hydrolyzed by lipase, but bisphenol A-derived PC (i.e., BPA-PC) lacks enzyme catalysts for their efficient hydrolysis due to the high hydrophobicity and rigidity of its polymer backbone. This study aims to develop an artificial nanozyme for the selective hydrolysis of small-molecule aromatic carbonates as model substrates for BPA-PC. The catalyst is prepared through molecular imprinting of cross-linkable micelles in a one-pot reaction using a thiourea template and a zinc-containing functional monomer. The resulting water-soluble nanoparticle resembles a hydrolytic metalloenzyme to bind the appropriately shaped aromatic carbonate substrate in the active site, with the nearby zinc acting as a cofactor to activate a water molecule for the nucleophilic attack on the carbonate. Catalytic hydrolysis is observed at room temperature and pH 7, with a rate acceleration of 1 × 106 for diphenyl carbonate. Full article
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop