In recent years, organic–inorganic hybrid nanoflower
technology
has become an effective method for enzyme immobilization. Here, seven
hierarchical flower-like hemoglobin-phosphate organic-inorganic hybrid
nanomaterials (Hb-M3(PO4)2
·nH2O HNFs) were synthesized through an improved universal
one-pot wet-chemical method, with Ca2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ as inorganic components. In this synthesis
process, the metal cations are successively involved in the coordination
reaction with Hb and the metathesis reaction to generate phosphate
precipitation. The coordination ability of metal cations and the
generation rate of phosphate precipitations were evaluated, then the
progress of the two chemical reactions was controlled synchronously
by adjusting the phosphate buffer (PB) concentration, and finally
a flower-like structure conducive to substrate diffusion and transport
was obtained. Due to the conformational transformation of hemoglobin
and the abundant Cu2+/Fe3+ active sites, the
hemoglobin-Cu3(PO4)2·3H2O nanoflowers have extremely high catalytic activity, which
is ∼14 times that of Hb. Importantly, this method is suitable
for the monometallic-ionic, polymetallic-ionic and polyvalent metal-ion
nanoflowers, which broadens the chemical composition and structural
diversity of nanoflowers.