ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Electrochemical sensors as a versatile tool for the quantitative analysis of Vitamin B₁₂

Santhy Antherjanam, Beena Saraswathyamma, Rajasree G. Krishnan, and Gopika M. Gopakumar

Department of Chemistry, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kollam, India

E-mail: beenas@am.amrita.edu

Received: 14 November 2020  Accepted: 24 February 2021

Abstract:

Abstract

Vitamin B₁₂ (Vit B₁₂) is one of the essential vitamins which play a prominent contribution in the functioning of neurological systems and the production of blood cells. Vit B₁₂ is found in very low concentrations of the picomolar level in blood serum. The deficiency and surplus concentrations of Vit B₁₂ in the blood may cause serious health disorders. The main sources of Vit B₁₂ are meat, egg, dairy products, etc., and therefore, vegetarians are highly susceptible to Vit B₁₂ deficiency. The insufficiency of Vit B₁₂ in blood serum can be treated by giving proper Vit B₁₂ supplements. Thus, selective, and sensitive point-of-care devices for the monitoring of Vit B₁₂ from biological, pharmaceutical, and food samples are highly essential. A lot of analytical techniques are in practice for the quantification of Vit B₁₂. Nevertheless, electrochemical methods possessed some advantages over other techniques because of their simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and fast response time. Vit B₁₂ is an electroactive compound and is widely exploited in electroanalytical studies. There have been several reports for the electrochemical detection of Vit B₁₂ using carbon-based electrodes, metal electrodes, paper electrodes, screen printed electrodes (SPE), bismuth film electrodes (BFE), indium tin-oxide (ITO) electrodes, dropping mercury electrodes (DME), etc., and to our knowledge, the picomolar level detection of Vit B₁₂ was achieved only via ITO electrode. This review brings an exhaustive study of the electrochemical sensors and their analytical characteristics for Vit B₁₂ for the first time by considering the advantages of the electrochemical techniques over other analytical methods. We have also compared the advantages and disadvantages of the existing electrochemical sensors for Vit B₁₂. The review aims to explore the area of electrochemical sensing in the analysis of Vit B₁₂ for further research by overcoming all challenges in the future.

Graphic abstract

Keywords: Vitamin B12; Sensors; Voltammetry; Electrodes; Electrochemical detection

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-021-01574-2

Chemical Papers 75 (7) 2981–2995 (2021)