The fabrication of dendrimeric phenylboronic acid-functionalized magnetic graphene oxide nanoparticles with excellent adsorption performance for the separation and purification of horseradish peroxidase

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) is a classic cis-diol-containing glycoprotein and can be extracted from horseradish plants; it has low loading capacity and enzyme stability in the separation process. Functionalized magnetic nanoparticles have been proved to be effective for the separation and purification of glycoproteins. In this work, dendrimeric phenylboronic acid-functionalized magnetic graphene oxide nanoparticles (d-PBA-GO@Fe3O4@PEI) were synthesized via dendrimer-assisted multivalent synergistic binding. The boronic acid in the dendrimeric magnetic nanoparticles provided docking sites for cis-diol-containing biomolecules. d-PBA-GO@Fe3O4@PEI exhibited excellent performance in the separation of HRP with a binding capacity as high as 557.75 mg g(-1). The magnetic nanoparticles also exhibited excellent recyclability. It was found that the nanoparticles had satisfactory performance for the separation and purification of HRP from the crude extract of horseradish; moreover, the HRP structure remained unchanged before and after the elution process. The outstanding adsorption performance (high adsorption capacity and specific recognition) makes the nanoparticles promising for the separation and purification of glycoproteins in the future industrial production.