Degradation of water-insoluble dyes by microperoxidase-11, an effective and stable peroxidative catalyst in hydrophilic organic media

Microperoxidase-11 (MP-11), a heme-containing undecapeptide, derived from horse heart cytochrome c was utilized as a peroxidative catalyst. Catalytic characteristics of MP-11 in hydrophilic organic media were studied using 2,6-dimethoxyphenol as a reducing substrate in a series of organic solvents at various concentrations, indicating that MP-11 was active in water-miscible organic solvents but at least 5% water was compulsory for the catalytic action. Thus, MP-11 was not active in hydrophobic solvents. The pH of the water portion in the media affected the reaction rate. The optimal pH was found to be 9, where a release of protons from either an oxidizing or reducing substrate to the media was facilitated. The decolorization of water-insoluble synthetic dyes by MP-11 in 90% methanol was attempted. MP-11 showed effective decolorization activities against either azo or anthraquinone dyes. The degradation pathway for Solvent Orange 7 was investigated in detail, showing that MP-11 catalyzed the oxidative cleavage of the azo linkage to generate 1,2maphthoquinone and 2,4dimethylphenol as key intermediates.