Rapid Detection of Phenol Constituents from Industrial Effluents Using Microbial Tyrosinase and Nanoparticles

Rapid Detection of Phenol Constituents from Industrial Effluents Using Microbial Tyrosinase and Nanoparticles

Opinion

Environmental sensors are gaining importance because of ever- growing environmental concerns and their ability to provide rapid information on detection of toxic compounds especially phenols [1]. In particular, there is a great need for synthesis of systems for analysis and detection of phenolic compounds. Phenols are found in waste water of large number of industries [2]. Phenol and its derivatives which are carcinogenic and toxic, even at low concentrations are important pollutants [3]. Hence the development of analytical methods for determination and monitoring of phenols is necessity. In this context, enzymes are used for fast detection and screening of phenols. Among enzymes, tyrosinase is used for the detection of phenolic compounds and attracting great interest for fast and simple detection of phenols [4]. Tyrosinase is one of the metallic coppers containing protein and part of polyphenol oxidases and classified as monophenol, o-diphenol oxidoreductase with EC; 1.14.18.1. Its catalysis oxidation of phenols to orthoquinones, both in the presence of molecular oxygen [5,6]. These enzymes are widely distributed in nature (mammals, plants, bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes) [7]. Various spectrometric and chromatographic methods are in common use for phenol determination. Thus, biological active compound Streptomyces tyrosinase for phenol detection is the innovative idea to prevent the use of conventional methods [8,9]. The advantage of using enzymes as biological element for detection of phenols is it can bind to the substrate with great specificity and high selectivity [10,11]. The highest production of tyrosinase was achieved by Streptomyces [12-15]. Thus this tyrosinase was used for the detection of phenols. Effect of pH and temperature on the detection process was also analyzed [16,17]. Phenolic solutions such as synthetic wastewater containing catechol, pyrogallol, resorcinol, P-nitrophenol were treated with tyrosinase at different concentration [18]. The total phenol assay was calorimetrically determined using 4-AAP method. The literature for detecting phenol using other enzymes takes 2hr, whereas this enzyme detects the phenol with 10mins [19,20]. This proves the potentiality of Streptomyces tyrosinase enzyme for detecting phenols.

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