Comparative studies of soluble and immobilized Fe(III) heme-peptide complexes as alternative heterogeneous biocatalysts

Abstract

Fe(III) heme is known to possess low catalytic activity when exposed to hydrogen peroxide and a reducing substrate. Efficient non-covalently linked Fe(III) heme-peptide complexes may represent suitable alternatives as a new group of green catalysts. Here, we evaluated a set of heme-peptide complexes by determination of their peroxidase-like activity and the kinetics of the catalytic conversion in both, the soluble and the immobilized state. We show the impact of peptide length on binding of the peptides to Fe(III) heme and the catalytic activity. Immobilization of the peptide onto a polymer support maintains the catalytic performance of the Fe(III) heme-peptide complex. This study thus opens up a new perspective with regard to the development of heterogeneous biocatalysts with a peroxidase-like activity.

Keywords: biocatalyst; heme; heterogeneous catalysis; peptide; peroxidase-like activity.