Electroanalysis may be used in the Vanillin Biotechnological Production

Abstract

This study shows that electroanalysis may be used in vanillin biotechnological production. As a matter of fact, vanillin and some molecules implicated in the process like eugenol, ferulic acid, and vanillic acid may be oxidized on electrodes made of different materials (gold, platinum, glassy carbon). By a judicious choice of the electrochemical method and the experimental conditions the current intensity is directly proportional to the molecule concentrations in a range suitable for the biotechnological process. So, it is possible to imagine some analytical strategies to control some steps in the vanillin biotechnological production: by sampling in the batch reactor during the process, it is possible to determine out of line the concentration of vanillin, eugenol, ferulic acid, and vanillic acid with a gold rotating disk electrode, and low concentration of vanillin with addition of hydrazine at an amalgamated electrode. Two other possibilities consist in the introduction of electrodes directly in the batch during the process; the first one with a gold rotating disk electrode using linear sweep voltammetry and the second one requires three gold rotating disk electrodes held at different potentials for chronoamperometry. The last proposal is the use of ultramicroelectrodes in the case when stirring is not possible.

The electrochemical reactions of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and some phenolic compounds in aprotic organic solvents

“…In particular, a diverse array of electrochemical works on devising sensors for vanillin detection have been disclosed over the years [125][126][127][128][129], with most of these accounts relying on the direct electrochemical oxidation of vanillin in protic solutions (Scheme 1.10) [125][126][127][128]. Generally, the cyclic voltammograms of vanillin showed an anodic peak on the forward scan of the CV which is associated with the loss of two-electron/one-proton (-2e -/-H + ), and a separate cathodic wave on the return sweep (along with its corresponding oxidation peak seen on the subsequent cycle) which was assigned to the reduction of the 1,2-benzoquinone unit (compound 9) (and oxidation of its corresponding catechol-based product, compound 10) that is formed after hydrolysis at the 2-methoxy group.…”