ABSTRACT Electrochemical biosensors have found wide application for detection of a large body of substrates, and are presently used in clinical and environmental areas, or in food analysis. The most recent commercial biosensors (‘second-generation’ sensors ) are based on the use of redox mediators. However, mediators give rise to several problems since these molecules (which are used together with redox enzymes) are not sufficiently selective; acting as general redox catalysts, they also favour undesired side-reactions. This justifies the big effort presently devoted to the realization of ‘third generation ‘ biosensors, based on direct electron transfer between redox proteins and the electrode surface. Such sensors, which do not make use of mediators, are clearly provided with higher slectivity. In this paper we shall describe recent study performed in our laboratories, devoted to the realization of electrochemical biosensors based on membrane-entrapped proteins, in the perspective of their successful application in biosensor area.
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