Enzymatic electrode processes

Regardless of the mechanism operating in these enzymatic electrode processes, the success of synthetic metal electrodes is due to rate enhancement resulting from favourable interactions of the electrode constituents with the active redox site of the enzyme. Polyaniline has been shown to be a good glucose oxidase electrode by Bartlett et al. [286], Shinohara et al. [287]... 

In DET, the enzymatic and electrode reactions are coupled by direct (mediatorless) electron transfer. In this case, the electron is transferred directly from the electrode to the substrate molecule (or vice versa) via the active site of the enzyme. In such a system, the coupled overall process is the redox transformation of the substrate(s), which can be considered as an enzyme-catalyzed electrode process. According to this mechanism, the electrode surface acts as the enzyme cosubstrate, and the enzymatic and electrode reactions cannot be considered as separate, but as formal stages of the bioelectrocatalytic reaction mechanism. The catalytic effect of the enzyme is the... 

Additional sufficient capabilities also occur as a result of the chemical conjugation mechanism, on which the overwhelming majority of enzymatic reactions are based. There is a firm belief that, in principle, a sequence of conjugated chemical processes can be selected for any reagent, starting from the substance to be detected and ending with an active product of enzymatic reaction. To put it another way, the corresponding enzymatic electrode may always be prepared. 

Chronoamperometry is often used for measuring the diffusion coefficient of electroactive species or the surface area of the working electrode. Some analytical applications of chronoamperometry (e.g., in vivo bioanalysis) rely on pulsing of the potential of the working electrode repetitively at fixed time intervals. Some popular test strips for blood glucose (discussed in Chapter 6) involve potential-step measurements of an enzymatically liberated product (in connection with a preceding incubation reaction). Chronoamperometry can also be applied to the study of mechanisms of electrode processes. Particularly attractive for this task are reversal double-step chronoamperometric experiments (where the second step is used to probe the fate of a species generated in the first one). 

Since most of the enzymatic reactions used are redox reactions and since the electrode processes are redox reactions as well, special attention has to be given to substances present in the sample interfering with redox reactions, especially ascorbate, urat and bilirubin. 

Zhao et al. prepared magnetite (FesO nanoparticles modified with electroactive Prussian Blue [44]. These modified NPs were drop-cast onto glassy-carbon electrodes. They observed the redox processes commonly observed for PB (similar to that seen in Figure 4.8), and also demonstrated that the Prussian White material produced by PB reduction at 0.2 V served as an electrocatalyst for Fi202 reduction. They also prepared LbL films in which PB NPs and glucose oxidase were alternated between PD DA layers [99]. These were demonstrated to act as electrocatalysts for Fi202 reduction. Based on the ability to sense the product of the enzymatic reaction, these structures were shown to act as glucose sensors. 

In MET, a low-molecular-weight, redox-active species, referred to as a mediator, is introduced to shuttle electrons between the enzyme active site and the electrode.In this case, the enzyme catalyzes the oxidation or reduction of the redox mediator. The reverse transformation (regeneration) of the mediator occurs on the electrode surface. The major characteristics of mediator-assisted electron transfer are that (i) the mediator acts as a cosubstrate for the enzymatic reaction and (ii) the electrochemical transformation of the mediator on the electrode has to be reversible. In these systems, the catalytic process involves enzymatic transformations of both the first substrate (fuel or oxidant) and the second substrate (mediator). The mediator is regenerated at the electrode surface, preferably at low overvoltage. The enzymatic reaction and the electrode reaction can be considered as separate yet coupled. 

Urea in kidney dialysate can be determined by immobilizing urease (via silylation or with glutaraldehyde as binder) on commercially available acid-base cellulose pads the process has to be modified slightly in order not to alter the dye contained in the pads [57]. The stopped-flow technique assures the required sensitivity for the enzymatic reaction, which takes 30-60 s. Synchronization of the peristaltic pumps PI and P2 in the valveless impulse-response flow injection manifold depicted in Fig. 5.19.B by means of a timer enables kinetic measurements [62]. Following a comprehensive study of the effect of hydrodynamic and (bio)chemical variables, the sensor was optimized for monitoring urea in real biological samples. A similar system was used for the determination of penicillin by penicillinase-catalysed hydrolysis. The enzyme was immobilized on acid-base cellulose strips via bovine serum albumin similarly as in enzyme electrodes [63], even though the above-described procedure would have been equally effective. 

Figure 22.2 shows a schematic representation of the enzymatic process between paracetamol and peroxidase catalyzed by the zucchini tissue powder incorporated into the Nujol/graphite electrode and also the electrochemical reduction of V-acetyl-p-benzoquinoneimine to paracetamol at a potential of —0.12 V. 

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