Abstract
A sweetness sensor with lipid/polymer membranes has been developed for evaluating the sweetness of sugars and sugar alcohols. Among the constituents of lipid/polymer membranes, gallic acid has been used as the main substance involved in sucrose response in our group. In this study, as a step toward understanding the response mechanism of the sweetness sensor, functional groups of gallic acid, namely, carboxyl and hydroxyl groups, were focused on. The results demonstrated that the carboxyl group is essential for the sweetness sensor, whereas the hydroxyl group is not always necessary for the sucrose response. It was also revealed that the phosphate group may be a substitute for the carboxyl group. Then, for one of the sensors with the highest response to a 300 mM sucrose solution, named the sweetness sensor GL1, the basic characteristics such as selectivity and correlation with sweetness were investigated. The behavior of GL1 sensor outputs was relatively similar to the sweetness perception in humans.
Highlights
It has been difficult to develop sweetness sensors with a lipid/polymer membrane because sweet-tasting substances like sucrose do not have an electric charge
3.1 Electric response of sensors with gallic acid and its derivatives In contrast to the previous studies,(1–4) a new method was used in this paper, in which no surface modification of the sensor is performed before measurement
Since some phenolic compounds showed a sucrose response only when they were contained within the lipid/polymer membranes, one of the reasons for the difference was considered to be the difference in the efficiency of surface modification among the phenolic compounds
Summary
It has been difficult to develop sweetness sensors with a lipid/polymer membrane because sweet-tasting substances like sucrose do not have an electric charge. Gallic acid, which is an important constituent of the sweetness sensor, has two functional groups, i.e., carboxyl and hydroxyl groups. From the viewpoint that functional groups play important role(s) in the interaction between the sweetness sensor and sugar samples, substances that are similar to gallic acid and have various functional group(s) were checked for their sucrose response. It is important to determine the necessary and sufficient conditions for the sweetness sensor, which may provide hints for understanding the response mechanism. This may be a basis for creating sensors that can detect neutral substances other than sugars
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