Simultaneous Hydrolysis and Detection of Organophosphate by Benzimidazole Containing Ligand-Based Zinc(II) Complexes
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
It is necessary to give a broader conclusion with a detailed description of the results.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
This paper fits the scope of the journal. The authors synthesized a Zinc(II) complex and its hydroxo specie with the aim of mimic the active site of the organophosphorus hydrolase enzyme. The compound’s characterizations are precise and convincing and their electrochemical behaviors were in deep studied, highlighting a remarkable electrocatalytic activity towards the hydrolysis of organophosphate pesticides. In this context, the authors verified the ability of their new biosensor to detect and hydrolyzed the organophosphate pesticides fenitrothion and parathion.
The manuscript is composed in a clear style following rational procedures.
However, there are some small issues with the manuscript, which lead me to conclude that this work is not suitable for publication in Crystals, MDPI, in its current form and some small changes would need to be implemented before the publication.
Major point:
FT-IR spectra. Looking at the spectra shown in Figure 2, it is difficult to understand how the authors manage to derive the values from 500 to 400 cm-1 for compound 2. It does not seem that three Zn-related signals are identifiable.
While the introduction is rich in detail and follows a clear flow, sometimes a brief paragraph conclusion is missing in the “results and discussion” part. This would be useful to reinforce the results obtained and allow even non-experts a greater understanding of the work and the authors’ aim.
Minor points:
Please check and correct the “Bold” all over the work (e.g. line 10 “the”, line 21-127 “or”)
Line 15. Please remove the double space after “the hydrolysis of”.
Line 23. Please check the verb form. I suggest to the authors using “which is attributed to…”. Moreover, please add the article before “former”.
Line 61. I suggest to the authors to add the article “a” before “water molecule”.
Line 63. The meaning of the numbers in brackets “(27-31)” is not clear. Please check and correct or add an explanation/reference.
Line 146. Please check the form of the verb “show”. It must be singular, as well as in line 152.
Line 149. Please, add a space between “Fig.” and “1c” to maintain a common format.
Line 170. The Tables and Figures must appear in the order in which they are cited in the text. Please move Table 1 before Figures 2 and 3 or move the sentence “The observed FT-IR frequencies and band assignments of the ligand AMB•2HCl and 169 its zinc complexes 1 and 2 in the solid state are listed in Table 1.”
Lines 173. In the first paragraph, the wording "Fig. 1" in bold was used to cite the Figure in the text. Please choose a common style for all image references and correct any inconsistencies.
Line 228. Please correct the verb “was” form. It must be plural.
Line 268. I suppose that the right word is “species” and not “spieces”. Please check and correct.
Line 271. The word “Nyquist” is missing a U. Please check and correct.
Line 295. Please correct the verb “have” form. It must be singular.
Line 302. The word “voltammograms” is missing an A. Please check and correct.
Line 329. Please correct the exponential “-3” as an exponent.
Line 332. Please remove the double space after “rate”.
Line 333. Please check the format of the word “rate”.
Line 345. Please add a space after “2.58 × 10-7.”
Line 346. Please remove the double space after “0.08”, as well as in line 352 after “(a)”.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
See the attached file
Reviewer 3 Report
In this papers, authors synthesised two zinc(II) complexes, namely [Zn(AMB)2Cl](ClO4) and [Zn(AMB)2(OH)](ClO4) 2 (AMB = 2-aminomethylbenzimidazole) as artificial catalysts for the hydrolysis of organophosphorus compounds and simultaneously detect fenitrothion and parathion pesticides. The electrochemical behavior of the prepared biomimetic sensor was assessed using cyclicvoltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The electrochemical behaviors of fenitrothion and parathion on the obtained biomimetic sensor were studied by cyclic and square wave voltammetric techniques. The effect of different experimental parameters such as supporting electrolyte, pH, deposition potential, accumulation time and different square wave voltammetric parameters on the peak height 87 has also been investigated. The obtained results clearly demonstrated that the complexes have remarkable electrocatalytic activity towards the hydrolysis of organophosphorus compounds under optimal conditions.
The study is complex and it is worth accepting for publication.
Author Response
See the attached file
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
