Sensor for components of a liquid mixture
First Claim
1. An electrode sensor system for sensing the presence of at least one selected component of a mixture of components, said sensor system comprising:
- (a) at least two electrically conducting means insulated from each other, each said conducting means having an electrically conductive surface for transferring electrical signals, each said surface being adapted to be in electrical contact with said mixture,(b) an enzyme, the catalytic activity of said enzyme being indicative of the presence of said component,(c) a mediator compound which transfers electrons between said enzyme and one said conductive surface when said enzyme is catalytically active, said mediator being an organometallic compound which comprises at least two organic rings, each of which is characterised by at least two double bonds that are conjugated and a metal atom in electron-sharing contact with each of said rings, and(d) means for measuring current resulting from said electron transfer at said one conductive surface, said measuring means being electrically connected to each of said electrically conducting means.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This invention relates to equipment and methods for detecting the presence of, measuring the amount of, and/or monitoring the level of, one or more selected components in a liquid mixture, employing an electrode sensing system.
We have discovered that a class of mediating compounds has extremely useful properties for mediating the transfer of charge between enzyme-catalyzed reactions and electrode surfaces (15) in electrode sensing systems.
Specifically, the specification discloses as electrode sensor mediators, organometallic compounds composed of at least two organic rings, each of which has at least two double bonds in a conjugated relationship; a metal atom is in electron-sharing contact with those rings. An enzyme capable of catalyzing a reaction at a rate representative of the selected compound concentration is in contact with an assay mixture, and the mediator compound transfers charge between the enzyme and the conductive surface of the electrode at a rate representative of the enzyme catalyzed reaction rate.
1073 Citations
27 Claims
-
1. An electrode sensor system for sensing the presence of at least one selected component of a mixture of components, said sensor system comprising:
-
(a) at least two electrically conducting means insulated from each other, each said conducting means having an electrically conductive surface for transferring electrical signals, each said surface being adapted to be in electrical contact with said mixture, (b) an enzyme, the catalytic activity of said enzyme being indicative of the presence of said component, (c) a mediator compound which transfers electrons between said enzyme and one said conductive surface when said enzyme is catalytically active, said mediator being an organometallic compound which comprises at least two organic rings, each of which is characterised by at least two double bonds that are conjugated and a metal atom in electron-sharing contact with each of said rings, and (d) means for measuring current resulting from said electron transfer at said one conductive surface, said measuring means being electrically connected to each of said electrically conducting means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. The system of claim 27 in which the haem-containing enzyme is chosen from the group consisting of yeast cytochrome c peroxidase and horseradish peroxidase.
Specification