Abstract
Analytical application of immobilised enzyme system is mainly in biosensors. Meeting the demand for practical, cost effective and portable analytical devices, enzyme based biosensors have enormous potential applications in clinical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, bioprocess and food quality control, biomedical and pharmaceutical analysis. Tyrosinase is one of the most extensively studied enzymes for applications in enzyme based biosensors. Since immobilisation of enzyme is crucial for the construction and performance of biosensors, the present overview focuses on functional materials for the development of tyrosinase based biosensors. A short description of how electrochemical sensors are more advantageous for the detection of phenolic compounds is given, followed by sources of tyrosinase and electrode material used in tyrosinase based sensors. Various approaches to biosensor construction with respect to tyrosinase immobilisation, e.g. sol–gel techniques, self-assembled architectures, synthetic, conducting and biopolymers, nanomaterials, are also presented. The review intends to highlight immobilisation strategies in developing tyrosinase based biosensors.