Synthesis and characterization of semiconducting polypyrrole/polyacrylamide microparticles with GOx for biosensor applications

Abstract Polypyrrole has been synthesized by the incorporation of the sulfonate dopant anion that renders the polymer dispersed in water. Polypyrrole was incorporated in the aqueous phase of a water in oil (W/O) concentrated emulsion, together with different amounts of the acrylamide monomer and the crosslinker bisacrylamide. The polymerization of the aqueous dispersed phase produces microparticles with average size 4.5 μm in which polypyrrole is entrapped. The conductivity of the microparticles with 50/50 (w/w) polypyrrole/polyacrylamide is 1 × 10 −5  S/cm, in the range of semiconductor materials. Glucose Oxidase (GOx) was immobilized in the microparticles by incorporating the enzyme into the aqueous phase of the concentrated emulsion before starting polymerization. The microparticles with the immobilized enzyme were used as biological component of an amperometric glucose sensor that responds to glucose under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, demonstrating the effectiveness of the immobilization technique as well as a possible application of the semi-conducting microparticles.

[1]  M. Umaña,et al.  Protein-modified electrodes. The glucose oxidase/polypyrrole system , 1986 .

[2]  S. F. Agnew,et al.  Poly(vinyl pyridine)-based stabilizers for aqueous polypyrrole latices , 1989 .

[3]  Najm Nico Sommerdijk,et al.  Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)‐Based Glucose Biosensors , 2001 .

[4]  A. Heeger.  Nobel Lecture: Semiconducting and metallic polymers: The fourth generation of polymeric materials* , 2001 .

[5]  Hitoshi Yamato,et al.  Stability of polypyrrole and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) for biosensor application , 1995 .

[6]  R. Crooks,et al.  Electrostatic immobilization of glucose oxidase in a weak acid, polyelectrolyte hyperbranched ultrathin film on gold: fabrication, characterization, and enzymatic activity. , 1999, Analytical chemistry.

[7]  Arthur J. Epstein,et al.  'Synthetic metals': a novel role for organic polymers , 1989 .

[8]  B. Vincent,et al.  The preparation and properties of dispersions of electrically-conducting polypyrrole particles , 1990 .

[9]  Adam Heller,et al.  Effect of Quaternization of the Glucose Oxidase “Wiring” Redox Polymer on the Maximum Current Densities of Glucose Electrodes , 1996 .

[10]  Hideki Shirakawa,et al.  Nobel Lecture: The discovery of polyacetylene film-the dawning of an era of conducting polymers , 2001 .

[11]  J. Retama,et al.  Microstructural modifications induced by the entrapped glucose oxidase in cross-linked polyacrylamide microgels used as glucose sensors. , 2003, Biomaterials.

[12]  R. Nolte,et al.  Conducting polymers with confined dimensions: Track-etch membranes for amperometric biosensor applications , 2002 .

[13]  Jie Bao,et al.  A Kinetic Study on Air Oxidation of Glucose Catalyzed by Immobilized Glucose Oxidase for Production of Calcium Gluconate , 2001 .

[14]  B. Vincent,et al.  Colloidal dispersions of electrically-conducting, spherical polyaniline particles , 1990 .

[15]  I. Willner,et al.  Electrical contacting of glucose oxidase by surface-reconstitution of the apo-protein on a relay-boronic acid-FAD cofactor monolayer. , 2002, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[16]  J. Pomposo,et al.  Synthesis and characterization of polypyrrole-graft-poly(ε-caprolactone) copolymers: new electrically conductive nanocomposites , 2002 .

[17]  S. Armes,et al.  Aqueous dispersions of electrically conducting monodisperse polypyrrole particles , 1987 .

[18]  Josef Hormes,et al.  The thermal ageing of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). An investigation by X-ray absorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy , 1995 .