Alessandra Arecchi

Nanofibrous membrane based tyrosinase-biosensor for the detection of phenolic compounds.

A tyrosinase-modified electrode is described to be used as amperometric biosensor for the detection of phenolic compounds in food. The enzyme has been immobilized by drop-coating on a glassy carbon electrode covered by a polyamidic nanofibrous membrane prepared by electrospinning. With respect to others, the selectivity of the designed tyrosinase-biosensor resulted modified by the presence of the nanostructured coating which seems to affect the permeability of phenols as a function of the pH of the solution and of their dissociation constants. The biosensor exhibits a response time of 16 s, a detection limit of 0.05 microM, and a linearity up to 100 microM (slope: -304 nA microM(-1); intercept: -191 nA, r(2)=0.996, n=19). Among others, it can be successfully used for monitoring in real time the release kinetics of phenols encapsulated in polymeric microcapsules.

Optical nanoprobes based on gold nanoparticles for sugar sensing

A novel optical nanoprobe for sugar sensing is reported. The assay used an electrospun polyamide mesh containing Au salts. The reaction of carbohydrates with these Au salts in alkaline media generates gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) at room temperature without the need for Au seeds. The optical properties of the resulting AuNPs relate to the total reducing sugar content of the samples analysed. The development of such inexpensive disposable optical nanoprobes could find applications in a host of industrial, biomedical and clinical fields.

Biocatalytic nylon nanofibrous membranes

AbstractNylon-6 nanofibrous membranes (NFM) have been prepared, characterized and used to build-up electrochemical biosensing devices. The assembly and the functioning of biocatalytic NFM are described in connection with the physical and the covalent immobilization of glucose oxidase for the detection of glucose. Effects of the enzyme loading, the mediator, the pH, the surface acidity and the kinetic of the catalysis have been thoroughly investigated. The results show that NFM allow the binding of proteins without the need for the hydrolysis step, in contrast to the nylon film. Furthermore, the high surface-to-volume ratio of the NFM allow superior loading of the enzyme with respect to thin film technology. The immobilization step does not affect the permeability of the coating to the mediator used. These results give evidence that NFM are a promising and inexpensive coating for a novel electrochemical transducer. FigureRepresentation of the assembly of the biosensing unit and of the reactions occuring at the assembled biosensor