Carbon Based Nanocomposites for Electrochemical Sensing of Adenine and Guanine Purine Bases: A Review

Abstract

Electrochemical sensing (ECS) is one of the most preferred detection techniques for the analysis of biomolecules such as purine bases (PB) which is based on transducing of biochemical reactions to electric signal (impedance, current, voltage, etc.). The sensitivity and fast signal responding nature of ECS technique to quantify PB, depends on the surface characteristics of working electrodes (WE), since all electrochemical reactions during sensing of PB is generally detected on the surface of WE. In this context, carbon electrodes have been widely studied and used WEin ECS techniques because of their promising electrochemical properties. Moreover, the modification of carbon electrode surfaces with carbon based nanocomposites (CNC) has displayed effective outcomes with good reproducibility, stability, and improved sensitivity in PB quantification via electrochemical methods. CNC including carbon nanomaterials, metal/ metal oxides nanoparticles and polymers, are frequently used electrode modifier due to their extraordinary conductivity and surface to volume ratio. This review provides a critical analysis of the CNC electrochemical sensor with examination of more suitable/efficient sensors for the quantitative detection of PB. Among various PB, the adenine and guanine bases are overviewed in the present review for their electrochemical quantification. In addition, the recent progress in CNC for WE surface modification used in ECS of Adenine and Guanine is also discussed.