Enzymatic chemistry of ferrocenes: micellar tuning of the glucose oxidase reactivity toward solubilized electrochemically generated n-alkylferricenium cations

Remarkable kinetic tuning of the glucose oxidase activity by the nature of micelle-alkylferrocene assemblies is realized during the electrochemical co upling between the enzyme reduced by D-glucose and the electrochemically ge nerated alkylferricenium cations H(CH2)(n)Fc(+) (n = 0, 2, 4-8) solubilized in micelles of neutral, positively and negatively charged surfactants (Tri ton X-100, CTAB and SDS, respectively) in the presence of D-glucose at pH 7 . The relative electron-transfer rate increases 14 times for n-butylferroce ne in CTAB and decreases by a factor of 3000 for n-pentylferrocene in SDS m icelles relative to their reactivities in the neutral Triton X-100 medium. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.