Boron-doped diamond electrodes for the electrochemical oxidation and cleavage of peptides

Electrochemical oxidation of peptides and proteins is traditionally performed on carbon-based electrodes. Adsorption caused by the affinity of hydrophobic and aromatic amino acids toward these surfaces leads to electrode fouling. We compared the performance of boron-doped diamond (BDD) and glassy carbon (GC) electrodes for the electrochemical oxidation and cleavage of peptides. An optimal working potential of 2000 mV was chosen to ensure oxidation of peptides on BDD by electron transfer processes only. Oxidation by electrogenerated OH radicals took place above 2500 mV on BDD, which is undesirable if cleavage of a peptide is to be achieved. BDD showed improved cleavage yield and reduced adsorption for a set of small peptides, some of which had been previously shown to undergo electrochemical cleavage C-terminal to tyrosine (Tyr) and tryptophan (Trp) on porous carbon electrodes. Repeated oxidation with BDD electrodes resulted in progressively lower conversion yields due to a change in surface termination. Cathodic pretreatment of BDD at a negative potential in an acidic environment successfully regenerated the electrode surface and allowed for repeatable reactions over extended periods of time. BDD electrodes are a promising alternative to GC electrodes in terms of reduced adsorption and fouling and the possibility to regenerate them for consistent high-yield electrochemical cleavage of peptides. The fact that OH-radicals can be produced by anodic oxidation of water at elevated positive potentials is an additional advantage as they allow another set of oxidative reactions in analogy to the Fenton reaction, thus widening the scope of electrochemistry in protein and peptide chemistry and analytics.