Electrochemical Biosensors Containing Pure Enzymes or Crude Extracts as Enzyme Sources for Pesticides and Phenolic Compounds with Pharmacological Property Detection and Quantification

Biosensors are chemical sensors in which the recognition system is based on a biochemical mechanism. They perform the specific component detection in a sample through an appropriate analytical signal. Enzyme-based biosensors are the most prominent biosensors because of their high specificity and selectivity; besides being an alternative to the common immunosensors, they are more expensive and present a limited binding capacity with the antigen depending on assay conditions. This chapter approaches the use of enzymes modified electrodes in amperometric biosensing application to detect and quantify pesticides and phenolic compounds with pharmacological properties, as they have been a promising analytical tool in environmental monitoring. These biosensors may be prepared from pure enzymes or their crude extracts. Pure enzyme-based biosensors present advantages as higher substrate specificity and selectivity when compared to crude extract enzymatic biosensors; nevertheless, the enzyme high costs are their drawbacks. Enzymatic crude extract biosensors show lower specificity due to the fact that they may contain more than one type of enzyme, but they may be obtained from low-cost fabrication methods. In addition, they can contain enzyme cofactors besides using the enzyme in its natural conformation.