Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Mitsuhiro Okuda

Ichiro Yamashita

Kazuaki Nishio

Hideyuki Yoshimura

An object of the present invention is to obtain a zinc oxide-protein complex which can be a source of nanoparticles of zinc oxide utilizing a protein having a cavity inside thereof. The process for producing a zinc oxide-protein complex according to the present invention includes a hydrogen peroxide addition step for adding hydrogen peroxide so that the concentration would be 60 mM or greater and 150 mM or less to a buffer containing a protein having a cavity inside thereof such as ferritin, zinc ion, and ammonia.

Process for producing zinc oxide-protein complex

The method of the production of a nanoparticle of the present invention includes a step of forming a nanoparticle including a compound of ametal ion in a cavity part of aprotein, in a solution containing the protein having the cavity part therein, the metal ion, and a carbonate ion and/or a hydrogen carbonate ion. Examples of the aforementioned compound include e.g., a hydroxide. The aforementioned metal ion is preferably any one of a nickel ion (Ni), a chromium ion (Cr) or a copper ion (Cu). According to the aforementioned method, nanoparticles having a uniform particle diameter can be produced.

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Osaka, Japan

Mitsuhiro Okuda