Developing artificial enzymes with the excellent catalytic performance of natural enzymes has been a long-standing goal for chemists. Single-atom catalysts with well-defined atomic structure and electronic coordination environments can effectively mimic natural enzymes. Here, we report an engineered FeN₃P-centred single-atom nanozyme (FeN₃P-SAzyme) that exhibits comparable peroxidase-like catalytic activity and kinetics to natural enzymes, by controlling the electronic structure of the single-atom iron active centre through the precise coordination of phosphorus and nitrogen. In particular, the engineered FeN₃P-SAzyme, with well-defined geometric and electronic structures, displays catalytic performance that is consistent with Michaelis–Menten kinetics. We rationalize the origin of the high enzyme-like activity using density functional theory calculations. Finally, we demonstrate that the developed FeN₃P-SAzyme with superior peroxidase-like activity can be used as an effective therapeutic strategy for inhibiting tumour cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, SAzymes show promising potential for developing artificial enzymes that have the catalytic kinetics of natural enzymes.

开发具有天然酶优异催化性能的人工酶一直是化学家的长期目标。具有明确原子结构和电子配位环境的单原子催化剂可以有效地模拟天然酶。在这里，我们报告了一种工程化的 FeN ₃ P 中心单原子纳米酶 (FeN ₃ P-SAzyme)，它通过控制单原子铁活性中心的电子结构，表现出与天然酶相当的类似过氧化物酶的催化活性和动力学。磷和氮的精确配位。特别是，工程化的 FeN ₃P-SAzyme 具有明确的几何和电子结构，显示出与 Michaelis-Menten 动力学一致的催化性能。我们使用密度泛函理论计算来合理化高酶样活性的起源。最后，我们证明所开发的具有优异过氧化物酶样活性的 FeN ₃ P-SAzyme 可用作在体外和体内抑制肿瘤细胞生长的有效治疗策略。因此，SAzymes 显示出开发具有天然酶催化动力学的人工酶的巨大潜力。