THE EFFECT OF ORGANIC-SOLVENT PROPERTIES ON THE RESPONSE OF A TYROSINASE ENZYME SENSOR

The use of an enzyme tyrosinase sensor capable of being employed in no n aqueous media represents a good opportunity to investigate the effec ts of the organic solvent on enzyme activity. Six different solvents a re considered (n-heptane, n-hexane, n-pentane, toluene, chloroform, ac etonitrile) and two properties of these solvents are studied in partic ular, i.e. hydrophobicity (as log P) and dielectric constant, taking i nto account their influence on sensor response. Results are generally in agreement with those found by other authors, who determined the beh aviour of the enzyme activity as a function of organic solvents using different methods.