The preparation of amperometric xanthine sensors based on multilayer thin films containing xanthine oxidase

Xanthine dehydrogenase electrocatalysis: autocatalysis and novel activity

The enzyme xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) from the purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus catalyzes the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and xanthine to uric acid as part of purine metabolism. The native electron acceptor is NAD(+) but herein we show that uric acid in its 2-electron oxidized form is able to act as an artificial electron acceptor from XDH in an electrochemically driven catalytic system. Hypoxanthine oxidation is also observed with the novel production of uric acid in a series of two consecutive 2-electron oxidation reactions via xanthine. XDH exhibits native activity in terms of its pH optimum and inhibition by allopurinol.

Design of an amperometric xanthine biosensor based on a graphite transducer patterned with noble metal microparticles

A mesoporous graphite material micro-structured with palladium-platinum deposits (mixed in the ratio of 70:30% Pd:Pt) has been used as a cost-effective electrode material for designing an amperometric biosensor for xanthine. The here reported biosensor shows significantly improved operational parameters as compared to previously published results. At a constant applied potential of −0.05 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) it is distinguished with enhanced selectivity of the determination: at the working potential the current from the electrochemical transformation of various electrochemically active substances usually attending biological fluids (incl. uric acid, L-ascorbic acid, glutathione and paracetamol) has been eliminated. The effect of both the temperature and buffer composition on the analytical performance of the sensor has been investigated. Under optimal operational conditions (25°C, −0.05 V vs. Ag/AgCl, phosphate buffer, pH 8.4), the following have been defined for the biosensor: sensitivity 0.39 µA µM−1, strict linearity of the response up to xanthine concentration 70 µM, detection limit of 1.5 µM (S/N=3) and a response time of at most 60 s.

Redox reactions of ferricyanide ions in layer-by-layer deposited polysaccharide films: a significant effect of the type of polycation in the films

Redox reactions of ferricyanide ions, [Fe(CN)6]3-, in polysaccharide thin films that were prepared by layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition on the surface of a gold electrode were studied electrochemically by cyclic voltammetry. LbL films composed of alginic acid (AGA) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) were successfully prepared using poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) as the cationic counterparts in the electrostatic LbL deposition. The deposition behavior of the PEI-based films significantly depended on the pH of the solutions from which the LbL films were deposited, while the effects of pH were negligibly small for the PDDA-based films due to the pH-independent positive charges on the PDDA chains. The cyclic voltammograms (CVs) of [Fe(CN)6]3- ions on the LbL film-coated electrodes revealed that all the LbL films tested are permeable to [Fe(CN)6]3- ions and that the redox reactions of [Fe(CN)6]3- ions proceed smoothly in the LbL polysaccharide films. It was found that [Fe(CN)6]3- ions are concentrated in the films from the bulk solution, depending on the pH of the medium and on the type of polycations in the film. The PEI-based films concentrated [Fe(CN)6]3- ions more effectively in an acidic solution than in neutral and basic media, while the pH effect was not observed for the PDDA-based films. In addition, we found that the [Fe(CN)6]3- ions are confined in the LbL films due to a strong binding of the ions to the positively charged sites arising from the protonated amino groups in the films. The confined [Fe(CN)6]3- ions exhibited redox reactions in the films, with the redox potentials being shifted to the positive or negative direction in the PEI- or PDDA-based film, respectively, as compared to the redox potential of diffusing [Fe(CN)6]3- ions. Thus, significant effects of the type of polycation in the LbL films on the redox reactions of [Fe(CN)6]3- ions were observed.