Determination of Folic Acid Using Biosensors—A Short Review of Recent Progress

Abstract

Folic acid (FA) is the synthetic surrogate of the essential B vitamin folate, alternatively named folacin, pteroylglutamic acid or vitamin B9. FA is an electroactive compound that helps our body to create and keep our cells healthy: it acts as the main character in a variety of synthetic biological reactions such as the synthesis of purines, pyrimidine (thus being indirectly implied in DNA synthesis), fixing and methylation of DNA. Therefore, physiological folate deficiency may be responsible for severe degenerative conditions, including neural tube defects in developing embryos and megaloblastic anaemia at any age. Moreover, being a water-soluble molecule, it is constantly lost and has to be reintegrated daily; for this reason, FA supplements and food fortification are, nowadays, extremely diffused and well-established practices. Consequently, accurate, reliable and precise analytical techniques are needed to exactly determine FA concentration in various media. Thus, the aim of this review is to report on research papers of the past 5 years (2016–2020) dealing with rapid and low-cost electrochemical determination of FA in food or biological fluid samples.

Sensitive Detection of Industrial Pollutants Using Modified Electrochemical Platforms

“…Spectrophotometric methods have also been used [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. Although these methods to measure HQ and BQ levels have been demonstrated to be effective, they still require a minimum of in-presence sample processing and high employment of reagents and time [ 50 , 51 ]. In this context, electrochemical sensors represent a valid alternative to the traditional staple techniques due to their instrumental simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and portability [ 50 , 52 ].…”

Specific and Sensitive Determination of Folic Acid by Label-Free Chemosensors with Microscope Glass Slips as Single-Use Consumables

“…Folic acid (FA), along with its other forms known as vitamins B9, B11, and M, cumulatively called folates, are small molecules vital for humans. They are involved in many key processes in the organism: protein metabolism, DNA/RNA formation, production of healthy red blood cells, and many others [1][2][3]. The folate deficiency is associated with severe diseases such as neural tube defects in newborns, cardiovascular disorders, cognitive dysfunction in aging, etc.…”

Folic Acid Determination in Food Samples Using Green Synthesized Copper Oxide Nanoparticles and Electro-Poly (Methyl Orange) Sensor

“…Despite this, these methods are difficult to master, time-consuming and expensive [20]. By contrast, electrochemical techniques are effective in determining FA and have attracted increasing attention because of their advantages of simplicity, high sensitivity, good selectivity, and low cost [21,22]. In electroanalytical chemistry, electrodes have been chemically modified and applied to decrease the overpotential.…”