Stabilizing DNAzymes through Encapsulation in a Metal-Organic Framework.

: DNAzymes are a promising class of bioinspired catalyst; however, their structural instability limits their potential. Herein, we report a method to stabilize DNAzymes by encapsulating them in a metal-organic framework (MOF) host. This biomimetic mineralization process makes DNAzymes active under a wider range of conditions. We demonstrated the concept by encapsulating hemin-G-quadruplex (Hemin-G4) into zeolitic imidazolate framework-90 (ZIF-90), which indeed increases the DNAzyme's structural stability. The stabilized DNAzymes show activities in the presence of Exonuclease I, organic solvents, or high temperature. Due to its elevated stability and heterogeneous phase, we are able to perform catalysis under a continuous-flow condition, and the DNAzyme can be reactivated in situ by introducing K+. Moreover, we found that the encapsulated DNAzyme maintains its high enantiomer selectivity, demonstrated by the sulfoxidation of thioanisole to (S)-methyl phenyl sulfoxide. This concept of stabilizing DNAzymes expands their potential application in chemical industry.