Nanohybrids consisting of magnetic nanoparticles and gold nanoclusters as effective peroxidase mimics and their application for colorimetric detection of glucose

Although protein-stabilized gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have gathered recent attention as biocompatible peroxidase mimics, their practical utility has been critically limited by the low catalytic activity. Here, the authors have developed a nanohybrid material to significantly enhance the catalytic activity of AuNCs by combining them with other inorganic enzyme mimetics, Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), through electrostatic attraction. Owing to the synergistic effect by incorporating AuNCs and MNPs, the constructed nanohybrids yielded highly enhanced catalytic activity and enabled rapid catalytic oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine substrate to produce a blue-colored solution in proportional to the amount of H₂O₂. Moreover, a highly sensitive and selective glucose biosensing strategy was developed based on the coupled catalytic action between glucose oxidase and the nanohybrids. Using this method, target glucose was successfully detected in a linear concentration range from 150 to 750 μM with a detection limit as low as 100 μM. Along with excellent linearity, high precision and reproducibility were achieved by employing real human blood serums, which enables its use for the reliable quantification of glucose in practical use. Based on these results, the authors anticipate that the nanohybrids consisting of MNPs and AuNCs can serve as potent peroxidase mimics for the detection of clinically important target molecules.