Recent advances of priority phenolic compounds detection using phenol oxidases-based electrochemical and optical sensors

The vast development of plastics industry involving phenolic compounds in its production has resulted in bad water pollution. It becomes a serious problem as living things including human need water to survive the daily life. Due to its toxicity, some of the phenolic compounds have been listed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of priority pollutants. Since then, huge efforts have been put in the fabrication of sensors for fast detection of priority phenolic compounds. Biosensors based on phenol oxidases have been greatly developed for priority phenolic compounds sensing due to its inherent specificity and fast response. In this feature paper, the recent and updated studies on the applications of phenol oxidases for the detection of priority phenolic compounds using electrochemical and optical sensor will be reviewed as well as the future development of surface plasmon resonance incorporated with phenol oxidases as an alternative sensor for priority phenolic compounds.