Conducting polymers of terepthalic acid bis-(2-thiophen-3-yl-ethyl) ester and their electrochromic properties

Sensing Methods for Hazardous Phenolic Compounds Based on Graphene and Conducting Polymers-Based Materials

It has been known for years that the phenolic compounds are able to exert harmful effects toward living organisms including humans due to their high toxicity. Living organisms were exposed to these phenolic compounds as they were released into the environment as waste products from several fast-growing industries. In this regard, tremendous efforts have been made by researchers to develop sensing methods for the detection of these phenolic compounds. Graphene and conducting polymers-based materials have arisen as a high potential sensing layer to improve the performance of the developed sensors. Henceforth, this paper reviews the existing investigations on graphene and conducting polymer-based materials incorporated with various sensors that aimed to detect hazardous phenolic compounds, i.e., phenol, 2-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, pentachlorophenol, 2-nitrophenol, 4-nitrophenol, 2,4-dinitrophenol, and 2,4-dimethylphenol. The whole picture and up-to-date information on the graphene and conducting polymers-based sensors are arranged in systematic chronological order to provide a clearer insight in this research area. The future perspectives of this study are also included, and the development of sensing methods for hazardous phenolic compounds using graphene and conducting polymers-based materials is expected to grow more in the future.

Preventing inhibition of tyrosinase with modified electrodes

Wines, especially red wines, contain numerous biologically active compounds, the most important of which are polyphenols, whose nutritional importance is attributed to their antioxidant power. Because of this, the detection of the amount of phenolic compounds in red wines becomes extremely important. However, using free enzyme in the determination of phenolic compounds in wines cannot reflect the actual values since there are also naturally found inhibitors in red wines. In this study, benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, and sorbic acid were utilized to understand the behavior of immobilized polyphenol oxidase in the conducting polymer matrices toward inhibition. Cinnamic acid was found to be the most powerful inhibitor for both free and immobilized enzyme in copolymer matrix of poly(terephthalic acid bis-(2-thiophen-3-yl-ethyl) ester) (PTATE) with polypyrrole (PPy). In the case of immobilized enzyme in PPy matrix, it was observed that sorbic acid is a stronger inhibitor than cinnamic acid. The inhibitory effects of these inhibitors on PPO were compared with respect to both the structural differences of inhibitors and conducting polymer matrices.