A simple system is presented for the microscale, direct voltammetry of redox proteins, typically 25 pg, in the absence of mediators and/or modifiers. The sample consists of a droplet of anaerobic solution laid onto an oversized disc of nitric-acid-pretreated glassy carbon as the working electrode. Very reproducible, Nernstian responses are obtained with horse heart cytochrome c. The midpoint potential Em (pH 7.0) is dependent on the ionic strength, ranging from +293 mV in 1 mM potassium phosphate to +266 mV in 0.1 M phosphate. At fixed buffer and cytochrome concentrations the magnitude of the voltammetric response is found to be independent of pH over six pH units around neutrality. It is suggested that the response of the present system is not complicated by pH-dependent properties of the electrode surface around physiological pH and, therefore, that the use of this system is practical in biochemically oriented studies. Direct, quasi-reversible responses have also been obtained at pH 7.0 (5 mM phosphate) from DesuEfovibrio vulgaris. Hildenborough strain, tetraheme cytochrome c3 (PI = 10.0 at 4°C; 3 x Em = -0.32 mV, Em = -0.26 V), and cytochrome c S s 3 (PI = 9.3; Em = +60 mV), and from Megasphaera elsdenii rubredoxin (PI 'v 3; Em = f 4 2 mV) and 2[4Fe-4S] ferredoxin (PI 'v 3; Em = -353 mV). The latter protein adsorbs onto the glassy carbon surface, thus forming a system with possible applications in the electrochemical study of ferredoxin-linked enzymes.Direct, unmediated bioelectrochemistry at solid electrodes has been developed over the last decade from an academic possibility to a potentially powerful method for mechanistic studies on redox proteins [l]. The methodological hows and whys appear to a considerable extent to have been established by now in studies employing small, electron-transferring proteins [2]. The first successful detection of electron transfer between a true enzyme and a solid electrode was recently reported [3].Essentially, two different approaches have been tried to achieve direct, (quasi-)reversible electrode responses of redox proteins. The group of Hill and coworkers has been at the forefront of developing efficient and, possibly, specific promoters of bioelectrochemistry and trying to understand their mechanisms of action on the molecular level [I, 21. The notion, promoter, here means any substance that does not take part in the electron transfer in the electrochemical potential range of interest, but rather maneuvers itself in a specific manner between the redox protein and the electrode surface (i.e. the kinetic formation of a heterogeneous trimeric complex) such as to promote reversible electron transfer. Alternatively, these and other workers have taken the approach to do without promoters by developing special pretreatment procedures and experimental protocol for the use of bare electrodes with proteins, e.g. [ l , 2, 4-81, The point has been made that high purity of protein preparation is an essential factor in the reproducibility of responses on bare electrodes [9].The method...