A nanosized metal–organic framework of Fe-MIL-88NH2 as a novel peroxidase mimic used for colorimetric detection of glucose

In this paper, a nanosized porous metal–organic framework, Fe-MIL-88NH2, was facilely prepared with a uniform octahedral shape by the addition of acetic acid, and for the first time was demonstrated to possess intrinsic peroxidase-like activity. Kinetic analysis and electron spin resonance measurements indicated that the catalytic behavior was consistent with typical Michaelis–Menten kinetics and follows a ping-pong mechanism. As a novel peroxidase mimic material, Fe-MIL-88NH2 shows the advantages of high catalytic efficiency, ultrahigh stability and high biocompatibility in aqueous medium compared with natural enzymes and other peroxidase nanomimetics. Here, Fe-MIL-88NH2 was used to quickly catalyze oxidation of the peroxidase substrate 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of H2O2 to produce a colored product, which provided a simple, sensitive and selective method for the colorimetric detection of glucose. Glucose could be linearly detected in the range from 2.0 × 10−6 to 3.0 × 10−4 M with a detection limit of 4.8 × 10−7 M, and the color variation for glucose response was also obvious by visual observation at concentrations as low as 2.0 × 10−6 M. More importantly, the colorimetric method could be successfully applied to the determination of glucose in diluted serum samples.