Electrochemical sensing of concanavalin A using a non-ionic surfactant with a maltose moiety

• A detection of concanavalin A (ConA) was performed by using mixed micelles between a surfactant and electroactive daunomycin.
• The electrode response increased due to the breakdown of the micelles caused by ConA.
• The procedure was applied to the determination of ConA in a serum.

To electrochemically detect concanavalin A (ConA), a new method was developed using mixed micelles between a non-ionic surfactant with a maltose moiety and electroactive daunomycin. The surfactants, in which the length of the alkyl chain was different, were n-decyl-β-d-maltoside, n-dodecyl-β-d-maltoside, and n-tetradecyl-β-d-maltoside. The measurement principle was due to the micelle breakdown caused by the binding between the ConA and maltose moieties. When ConA was combined with maltose moieties at a concentration of surfactant that was near the critical micelle concentration, the daunomycin that formed the micelles was moved to a solution from the micelles. As a result, the peak current of daunomycin increased as the concentration of ConA was increased. The mechanism was proposed using voltammetry, spectrometry, and gel filtration. The linear range using n-tetradecyl-β-d-maltoside was 2.0 × 10−9 to 8.0 × 10−8 M of ConA, and it was the most sensitive in the presence of the three surfactants. To examine whether selective binding took place, measurements with several proteins were carried out. The electrode responses of daunomycin were not influenced by the presence of 5.0 × 10−6 M protein. Furthermore, this method could be applied to the determination of ConA in a serum, and to the measurement of sugar chains that can be combined with ConA on the cell surface.

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