Cytochrome C biosensor for the determination of trace level arsenic and cyanide compounds

• Main Author: Fuku, Xolile Godfrey
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Cytochrome c (cyt c); Boron doped diamond (BDD); Prussian blue (PB); Arsenic trioxide (As); Incubation; Drop coating; Intoxication; Toxicity; Electron-transport chain; Asphyxiates; Cyclic voltammetry (CV); Square wave voltammetry (SWV); Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS); Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR); UV/vis spectroscopy; Subtractive Normalization Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (SNFTIR).
• Online Access: http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_4183_1319807269

In this work, an electrochemical method based on a cyt c biosensor has been developed, for the detection of selected arsenic and cyanide compounds. Boron Doped Diamond (BDD) electrode was used as a transducer, onto which cyt c was immobilised and used for direct determination of Prussian blue, potassium cyanide and arsenic trioxide by inhibition mechanism. The sensitivity as calculated from cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV), for each analyte in phosphate buffer (pH= 7) was found to be (1.087- 4.488 ×10-9 M) and the detection limits ranging from 0.0043- 9.1 μM. These values represent a big improvement over the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.