Electron transfer of horse spleen ferritin at gold electrodes modified by self-assembled monolayers

Electron transfer is known to be an important step in the sequestering of iron by cellular ferritin. In this work, direct electron transfer between ferritin and a gold electrode was performed in order to probe its electron transfer kinetics. Gold electrodes were modified by the formation of self-assembled monolayers of 3-mercapto-propionic acid on the gold surface. Cyclic voltammetry using these electrodes shows that ferritin exhibits slow electron transfer kinetics at low potentials, yet fairly well-defined current-potential curves. In addition, the voltammetry indicates that adsorption of ferritin precedes the electron transfer step. Controlled potential electrolysis measurements yielded an n-value of 1910 electrons transferred per mole of ferritin. Cyclic voltammetry of a solution containing ferritin as well as nitrilotriacetate yields no electrolytic currents at potentials where the iron-nitrilotriacetate complex undergoes redox reactions, indicating that the currents observed in the voltammetry of ferritin were not due to free iron in the ferritin sample. In addition, the voltammetry of iron-free ferritin (apoferritin) did not yield appreciable currents, providing additional support to the suggestion that the observed voltammetric currents were due to the redox reactions of ferritin iron. Self-assembled monolayers containing carboxylate end groups effectively promoted the direct electron transfer of ferritin at a gold electrode, thus demonstrating that the electron transfer mechanisms of ferritin can now be probed electrochemically.