Detection of Waterborne and Airborne Formaldehyde: From Amperometric Chemosensing to a Visual Biosensor Based on Alcohol Oxidase

Abstract

A laboratory prototype of a microcomputer-based analyzer was developed for quantitative determination of formaldehyde in liquid samples, based on catalytic chemosensing elements. It was shown that selectivity for the target analyte could be increased by modulating the working electrode potential. Analytical parameters of three variants of the amperometric analyzer that differed in the chemical structure/configuration of the working electrode were studied. The constructed analyzer was tested on wastewater solutions that contained formaldehyde. A simple low-cost biosensor was developed for semi-quantitative detection of airborne formaldehyde in concentrations exceeding the threshold level. This biosensor is based on a change in the color of a solution that contains a mixture of alcohol oxidase from the yeast Hansenula polymorpha, horseradish peroxidase and a chromogen, following exposure to airborne formaldehyde. The solution is enclosed within a membrane device, which is permeable to formaldehyde vapors. The most efficient and sensitive biosensor for detecting formaldehyde was the one that contained alcohol oxidase with an activity of 1.2 U·mL−1. The biosensor requires no special instrumentation and enables rapid visual detection of airborne formaldehyde at concentrations, which are hazardous to human health.

Advances in Using Hansenula polymorpha as Chassis for Recombinant Protein Production

“…The H. polymorpha gcr1 mutants are commonly utilized as the bio-elements for Yeast-based biosensing. Some practical examples of these biosensors utilization include the detection of L-lactate (Smutok et al, 2007), urate (Dmytruk et al, 2011), formaldehyde (Sigawi et al, 2014), and D-lactate (Smutok et al, 2018).…”

Indoor air pollution and the contribution of biosensors

“…This result is useful for developing high-performance electrochemical biosensors. Another research group used alcohol oxidase from the yeast Hansenula polymorpha and horseradish peroxidase for development of low-cost biosensors for semi-quantitative detection of airborne formaldehyde in concentrations higher than the threshold levels (124). The measuring method is based on the colour change of a solution that contains a mixture of two enzymes and a chromogen, after the exposure to airborne formaldehyde.…”

A Reagentless Amperometric Formaldehyde-Selective Chemosensor Based on Platinized Gold Electrodes

“…FA-selective biosensors are based on cells [18] or enzymes, such as alcohol oxidase (AOX) or formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FdDH), which are used as biorecognition elements [19,20,21,22,23,24,25]. Potentiometric biosensors consisting of a pH-sensitive field effect transistor as a transducer, and containing either the enzyme AOX or permeabilized yeast cells, have been described by Korpan et al [21].…”

“…A number of attempts to develop biosensors for the detection of FA were reported, including amperometric sensors [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ] and potentiometric detection schemes [ 21 ]. FA-selective biosensors are based on cells [ 18 ] or enzymes, such as alcohol oxidase (AOX) or formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FdDH), which are used as biorecognition elements [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Potentiometric biosensors consisting of a pH-sensitive field effect transistor as a transducer, and containing either the enzyme AOX or permeabilized yeast cells, have been described by Korpan et al [ 21 ].…”

“…In the present work, we describe the construction and detailed characterization of new Pt-based chemolayers obtained electrochemically on the surface of gold planar electrodes by both electrolysis and cyclic voltamperometry. The Pt-based chemoelectrodes were tested for analysis of commercial disinfectants and compared to analytical devices reported by us earlier [ 20 , 33 ].…”