The peroxidase-like activity of vitamin B6 (VB6) was firstly demonstrated by catalyzing the peroxidase chromogenic substrate 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) at the existence of H2O2. The influence of different factors on the catalytic property of VB6, including pH, temperature, VB6 concentration, and incubation time, were investigated. The steady-state kinetic study results indicate that VB6 possesses higher affinity to H2O2 than natural horseradish peroxidase and some other peroxidase mimics. Besides, the radical quenching experiment results confirm that hydroxyl radical (•OH) accounts for the catalytic process. Based on the excellent peroxidase-like catalytic activity of VB6, the colorimetric methods for H2O2 and gallic acid (GA) detection were developed by measuring the absorbance variance of the catalytic system. Under the optimal conditions, the linear ranges of the methods for H2O2 and GA determination with good selectivity are 50.0-600.0 μM and 10.0-50.0 μM, respectively. In addition, the developed method was applied in the detection of H2O2 in milk samples and evaluation of total antioxidant capacity of different tea infusions. This study may broaden the application prospect of VB6 in environmental and biomedical analysis fields, contribute to profound insight of the physiological functions of VB6, as well as lay foundation for further excavation of small-molecule peroxidase mimics.
Keywords: colorimetric detection; gallic acid; hydrogen peroxide; peroxidase-like activity; vitamin B6.