Artificial phosphatase upon premicellar nanoarchitectonics of lanthanum complexes with long-chained imidazole derivatives

In-situ formed mononuclear lanthanum(III) complexes with novel hydrophobic imidazole derivatives exhibited good reactivities towards the transesterification of HPNP as classic RNA model, announcing excess three orders of magnitude rate enhancement. [Display omitted] •Premicellar lanthanum(III) complexes with hydrophobic imidazole derivatives efficiently promoted transesterification of HPNP as RNA model.•Three orders of magnitude rate enhancement were observed for the HPNP transesterification under physiological conditions.•Reactivities of the in-situ formed La(III)-based metallosurfactants were positive correlation to the length of hydrophobic alkyl chain. Four novel long chain-containing tridentate imidazole derivatives (Ln, n = 1, 2, 3, 4) were synthesized for in situ formation of mononuclear lanthanum(III) complexes as artificial phosphodiesterases. These in-situ formed La(III) complexes (named LaLn) were used to catalyze the transesterification of 2-hydroxypropyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate (HPNP), a classic RNA model. Critical aggregation concentrations (CAC) were determined for the as-prepared tridentate imidazole derivatives as ligands and corresponding mixtures of equivalent ligand and La3+ ion with a mole rate of 1:1. It denotes that the introduction of La3+ ion increases the CAC values of imidazole derivatives by about 2 to 3 folds. Foaming test shows that the foam height is positively correlated with the length of hydrophobic chain. Transesterification of HPNP mediated by LaLn nanoarchitectonics indicates that the introducing of hydrophobic chain benefits rate enhancement, showing excess three orders of magnitude acceleration under physiological conditions (pH 7.0, 25 °C). Moreover, catalytic reactivities of these La(III) complexes increased along with the increase in chain length: LaL1