Disposable electrochemical glucose sensor based on water-soluble quinone-based mediators with flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent glucose dehydrogenase

Abstract Glucose level measurement is essential for the point-of-care diagnosis, primarily for persons with diabetes. A disposable electrochemical glucose sensor is constructed using flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (FAD-GDH) and redox mediator for electron transfer from the enzyme to the electrode surface. Ideally, a suitable mediator should have high water solubility, high kinetic constant, high stability, and redox potential between −0.2 and 0.1 V vs. Ag|AgCl|sat. KCl. We designed and synthesized two new quinone-based water-soluble mediators: quinoline-5,8-dione (QD) and isoquinoline-5,8-dione (IQD). The formal potentials for both QD and IQD at pH 7.0 were −0.07 V vs. Ag|AgCl|sat. KCl. The logarithms of the electron exchange rate constants (k2/(M−1 s−1)) between QD/IQD and FAD-GDH were 7.7 ± 0.1 and 7.4 ± 0.1 for QD and IQD, respectively, which are the highest value among the water-soluble mediators for FAD-GDH reported to date. Disposable amperometric glucose sensors were fabricated by dropping FAD-GDH and QD or IQD onto a test strip. The sensor achieved a linear response up to glucose concentrations of 55.5 mM. The linear response was obtained even when the mediator loading was low (0.5 nmol/strip); loading was only 0.2 mol% of glucose. The results proved that the response current was primarily controlled by glucose diffusion. In addition, the sensor using QD exhibited high stability over 3 months at room temperature.