Differently substituted sulfonated polyanilines: The role of polymer compositions in electron transfer with pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent glucose dehydrogenase

Sulfonated polyanilines have become promising building blocks in the construction of biosensors, and therefore we use here differently substituted polymer forms to investigate the role of their structural composition and properties in achieving a direct electron transfer with the redox enzyme pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (PQQ-GDH). To this end, new copolymers containing different ratios of 2-methoxyaniline-5-sulfonic acid (MAS), 3-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (ABS) and 3-aminobenzoic acid (AB) units have been chemically synthesized. All polymers have been studied with respect to their ability to react directly with PQQ-GDH. This interaction has been monitored initially in solution, and subsequently on electrode surfaces. The results show that only copolymers with MAS and aniline units can directly react with PQQ-GDH in solution; the background can be mainly ascribed to the emeraldine salt redox state of the polymer, allowing rather easy reduction. However, when polymers and the enzyme are immobilized on the surface of carbon nanotube-containing electrodes, direct bioelectrocatalysis is also feasible in the case of copolymers composed of ABS/AB and MAS/AB units, existing initially in pernigraniline base form. This verifies that a productive interaction of the enzyme with differently substituted polymers is feasible when the electrode potential can be used to drive the reaction towards the oxidation of the substrate-reduced enzyme. These results clearly demonstrate that enzyme electrodes based on sulfonated polyanilines and direct bioelectrocatalysis can be successfully constructed.