Recent advances in non-enzymatic electrochemical detection of hydrophobic metabolites in biofluids

This review focuses on recent advances in non-enzymatic electrochemical biosensors for detection of hydrophobic metabolites. Electrochemical approaches have been widely applied in many established and emerging technologies and a large range of electrochemical biosensors have been used for detection of various hydrophobic metabolites. Despite the progress made in this field, some problems still exist, specifically, electrochemical detection of hydrophobic biomarkers can be challenging in complex biological fluids. In this review, we have highlighted some of the most representative surface modification technologies that have been employed in electrochemical biosensors to counter the problems of poor sensitivity and selectivity towards hydrophobic metabolites. The hydrophobic metabolites discussed in this review include uric acid, epinephrine, cortisol, cholesterol, tyrosine, adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. This is followed by discussion on future research directions for electrochemical sensing of hydrophobic biomarkers.