The effect of organic solvent properties on the response of a tyrosinase enzyme sensor.

The use of an enzyme tyrosinase sensor capable of being employed in non aqueous media represents a good opportunity to investigate the effects of the organic solvent on enzyme activity. Six different solvents are considered (n-heptane, n-hexane, n-pentane, toluene, chloroform, acetonitrile) and two properties of these solvents are studied in particular, i.e. hydrophobicity (as log P) and dielectric constant, taking into account their influence on sensor response. Results are generally in agreement with those found by other authors, who determined the behaviour of the enzyme activity as a function of organic solvents using different methods.