Taking Advantage of Hydrophobic Fluorine Interactions for Self-Assembled Quantum Dots as a Delivery Platform for Enzymes

Self-assembly of nanoparticles provides unique opportunities as nanoplatforms for controlled delivery. By exploiting the important role of noncovalent hydrophobic interactions in the engineering of stable assemblies, nanoassemblies were formed by the self-assembly of fluorinated quantum dots in aqueous medium through fluorine-fluorine interactions. These nanoassemblies encapsulated different enzymes (laccase and -galactosidase) with encapsulation efficiencies of 74%. Importantly, the encapsulated enzymes maintained their catalytic activity, following Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Under an acidic environment the nanoassemblies were slowly disassembled, thus allowing the release of encapsulated enzymes. The effective release of the assayed enzymes demonstrated the feasibility of this nanoplatform to be used in pH-mediated enzyme delivery. In addition, the as-synthesized nanoassemblies, having a diameter of about 50nm, presented high colloidal stability and fluorescence emission, which make them a promising multifunctional nanoplatform.