Fabrication of Zr-BTB@TiO<sub>2</sub>@Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> Nanosheets via Combining Dielectric Barrier Discharge and In Situ Growth Method for the Enrichment of Phosphopeptides
Shuang Yan, Bin Luo, Lingzhu Yu, Fang Lan, Yao Wu
Abstract
Phosphopeptide enrichment with excellent selectivity and sensitivity is of great significance for a comprehensive phosphoproteomic study and remains a serious challenge. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is a new technique for the rapid preparation of crystal materials, which is less time-consuming and enhances the synthesis efficiency. In this study, we utilize a facile DBD approach combined with the in situ growth of TiO2 nanoparticles and Fe3O4 nanoparticles to prepare two-dimensional (2D) Zr-BTB@TiO2@Fe3O4 (BTB = 1,3,5-tris(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene) nanosheets for phosphopeptide enrichment. The Zr-BTB@TiO2@Fe3O4 nanosheets exhibit outstanding enrichment ability with high sensitivity (0.4 fmol μL–1), superior selectivity (β-casein/Cyt C molar ratio 1:1000), and ideal batch-to-batch reusability (5 times). Encouraged by the superior results of the physical–chemical characterization and enrichment, we employed the Zr-BTB@TiO2@Fe3O4 nanosheets to analyze phosphopeptides from complicated biological samples, including nonfat milk, human saliva, and rat brain lysates, and observed their great potential in low-abundance phosphopeptide enrichment. These experimental results demonstrate that Zr-BTB@TiO2@Fe3O4 nanosheets are good candidates for phosphoproteome research.