Selenium-functionalized metal-organic frameworks as enzyme mimics

The development of artificial enzyme mimics has been rapidly growing in recent years, and it is attracting increasing attention owing to their remarkable advantages over natural enzymes. Herein, we developed a general and facile method to fabricate efficient glutathione peroxidase (GPx) mimics by grafting selenium-containing molecules (phenylselenylbromide, PhSeBr) to a Zr(IV)-based UiO-66-NH₂ framework. In the presence of glutathione (GSH) serving as substrate, the fabricated UiO-66-Se catalysts can catalyze the reduction of hydroperoxides. The as-prepared UiO-66-Se systems show good catalytic activity over three cycles. These high-efficiency GPx mimic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are endowed with excellent thermal and structural stability, providing a promising avenue for the development of artificial enzyme mimics.