Enhanced Recognition via Defect Engineered Amorphous Metal-Organic Framework for Sensitive and Stable Pesticide...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Enzyme-based biosensors offer rapid, on-site detection but face challenges with enzyme activity loss during immobilization.
• Conventional immobilization strategies often compromise enzyme performance, limiting practical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a highly sensitive and robust biosensor for on-site organophosphate pesticide detection in complex food matrices.
• To overcome the limitations of traditional enzyme immobilization by utilizing defect-engineered amorphous metal-organic frameworks.

Main Methods:

• Construction of defective acetylcholinesterase@amorphous metal-organic frameworks (AChE@AMOF-74) via a defect-engineering strategy.
• In situ tailoring of AChE@AMOF-74 to create a suitable microenvironment and high porosity for enzyme encapsulation.
• Development of an AChE@AMOF-74-based biosensor utilizing an image processing algorithm for pesticide quantification.

Main Results:

• The defect-engineered amorphous structure significantly enhanced enzyme catalytic activity (3.4-fold) and target recognition (5.6-fold) compared to crystalline nanoarchitectures.
• Achieved a low detection limit of 0.05 ng·mL⁻¹ for paraoxon detection.
• Demonstrated successful application in detecting pesticides within complex food matrices.

Conclusions:

• Defect-engineered amorphous metal-organic frameworks are highly effective for constructing high-performance enzyme-based biosensors.
• The developed biosensor provides a sensitive, robust, and on-site solution for pesticide detection in food.
• This work presents a novel protocol for on-site application of enzyme-based biosensors in food safety analysis.