A New Laccase Based Biosensor for Tartrazine.

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry
• Biosensor Technology
• Enzyme Catalysis

Background:

• Laccase enzyme is widely used in biosensors for phenolic compounds.
• Tartrazine, an azo-dye, requires sensitive detection methods in food products.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel electrochemical biosensor for tartrazine determination.
• To utilize laccase immobilized on functionalized microspheres and gold nanoparticles.

Main Methods:

• Immobilization of laccase on methacrylate-acrylate microspheres.
• Fabrication of a composite membrane with laccase-microspheres and gold nanoparticles on a screen-printed electrode.
• Electrochemical detection using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV).

Main Results:

• The biosensor exhibited a linear response for tartrazine from 0.2 to 14 μM (R² = 0.979).
• A low detection limit of 0.04 μM was achieved.
• The biosensor demonstrated stability for up to 30 days and showed no interference from common food additives.
• Results correlated well with the HPLC method for tartrazine analysis in real samples.

Conclusions:

• The developed laccase-based electrochemical biosensor is effective for tartrazine detection.
• The biosensor offers high sensitivity, stability, and selectivity, suitable for food analysis.
• This represents a new application of laccase in biosensor development for azo-dye determination.