Formation of Some Cysteine-Containing Peptide Monolayers on Au Electrodes and Their Applications for Metal Ion Sensing and Electrocatalytic Reactions

摘要

The use of biological molecules that already exist in nature offers advantages over using artificially made molecules in developing biosensors or electrocatalysts. Since those molecules have already been best adopted by nature to carry out specific functions, a lot of practical benefit could be acquired by utilizing or mimicking them rather than synthesizing complex molecules. In this regard, amino acids and peptides are favorite systems in metal ion sensing in a sense that they can act as very effective and often specific ligands for a variety of metal ions. While amine and carboxyl groups of amino acids participate in complexation, an amide nitrogen atom is also involved in complexation in the case of peptides. This often forms a chelate and a peptide-metal ion binding becomes significantly stronger as a result. Detailed accounts have been treated by Sigel and Martin and other authors.