Immobilization of lutetium bisphthalocyanine in nanostructured biomimetic sensors using the LbL technique for phenol detection

► Nanostructurated enzymeless biosensor for phenol detection in wine industry. ► Lutetium bisphthalocyanine as synthetic enzyme. ► The use of LbL technique for detection of phenolic compounds. ► Real-time detection in real samples. This study describes the development of amperometric sensors based on poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and lutetium bisphthalocyanine (LuPc 2) films assembled using the Layer-by-Layer (LbL) technique. The films have been used as modified electrodes for catechol quantification. Electrochemical measurements have been employed to investigate the catalytic properties of the LuPc 2 immobilized in the LbL films. By chronoamperometry, the sensors present excellent sensitivity (20 nA μM −1) in a wide linear range ( R 2 = 0.994) up to 900 μM and limit of detection ( s/ n = 3) of 37.5 × 10 −8 M for catechol. The sensors have good reproducibility and can be used at least for ten times. The work potential is +0.3 V vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE). In voltammetry measurements, the calibration curve shows a good linearity ( R 2 = 0.992) in the range of catechol up to 500 μM with a sensitivity of 90 nA μM −1 and LD of 8 μM.