Experimental and theoretical studies on electropolymerization of polar amino acids on platinum electrode

The anodic oxidation of polar amino acids (L-serine, L-threonine, L-asparagine, and L-glutamine) in aqueous electrolyte on smooth platinum electrode was carried out by cyclic voltammetry coupled to electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). pH (zwitterion, acidic and alkaline) effects on their electrochemical behavior were examined. The maximum current values are measured for zwitterion species. In addition, the current increases with increasing of concentration and scan rate, and decreases with increasing pH. The resulting passivation was studied by spectroscopic analysis such as attenuated total reflection FT infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and mass spectroscopy (MALDI-TOF). From thin film coatings observed on the electrode surface, peptide bonds are found, and are in favor of electropolymerization of these polar amino acids into poly-L-amino acids in an irreversible way. Scanning electronic microscopy was also used to study the morphology of these electrodeposited L-amino acids. The electrodeposited poly-L-amino acids on Pt electrode were tested as bioinspired transducer for pH sensing purposes. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.