Peroxidase-like activity of nanocrystalline cobalt selenide and its application for uric acid detection.

Dendrite-like cobalt selenide nanostructures were synthesized from cobalt and selenium powder precursors by a solvothermal method in anhydrous ethylenediamine. The as-prepared nanocrystalline cobalt selenide was found to possess peroxidase-like activity that could catalyze the reaction of peroxidase substrates in the presence of H ₂ O ₂ . A spectrophotometric method for uric acid (UA) determination was developed based on the nanocrystalline cobalt selenide-catalyzed coupling reaction between N -ethyl- N -(3-sulfopropyl)-3-methylaniline sodium salt and 4-aminoantipyrine (4-AAP) in the presence of H ₂ O ₂ . Under optimum conditions, the absorbance was proportional to the concentration of UA over the range of 2.0-40 μM with a detection limit of 0.5 μM. The applicability of the proposed method has been validated by determination of UA in human serum samples with satisfactory results.
Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.