An amperometric biosensor for xanthine determination prepared from xanthine oxidase immobilized in polypyrrole film

In order to prepare a biosensor for the determination of xanthine, electropolymerization of pyrrole on Pt surface was carried out with an electrochemical cell containing pyrrole, ferrocene (as a electron mediator) and tetrabutylamonium tetrafluoroborat in acetonitrile by cyclic voltammetry between 0.0 and 0.9V (vs SCE) at a scan rate of 50mV/s upon Pt electrode. Xanthine oxidase was immobilized by a glutaraldehyde/bovine serum albumin (BSA) crosslinking procedure on to polypyrrole film after the electropolymerization processes. The response of the biosensor against xanthine was measured after 3-4 min following the application of a constant potential of + 0.7 V (vs SCE). The resulting biosensor exhibits excellent electrocatalysis for the xanthine. The amperometric determination is based on the electrochemical detection of H202, which is generated in enzymatic reaction of xanthine. The effect of various experimental conditions was examined for the determination of the analytical performance. The sensor responds to xanthine with a detection limit of 1.0 x 10(-6)M. The response current increases linearly with xanthine concentration up to 4.0 x 10(-4) M. The sensor remains relatively stable for 45 days.