A novel biosensor system for cyanide based on a chemiluminescence reaction

A highly sensitive biosensor system has been developed for cyanide detection, based on the rhodanese-sulfite oxidase reaction and subsequent luminol chemiluminescence reaction. The system consists of an immobilized rhodanese column, an immobilized sulfite oxidase column, a mixing chamber for the chemiluminescence reaction and a photomultiplier tube. The sulfite generated by the reaction of cyanide and sodium thiosulfate catalyzed by rhodanese reacts with sulfite oxidase and produces sulfate and hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide then reacts with luminol and peroxidase (from Arthromyces ramosus (E.C. 1.11.1.7)) and the consequent chemiluminescence is detected. This system uses a flow injection analysis (FIA) system resulting in the rapid determination of cyanide, which takes approximately 2 min per measurement. A linear response was observed from 120 nM to 3.8 μM cyanide with a relative standard deviation for 380 nM was less than 5% (n = 6). The detection limit was 12 nM. The immobilized rhodanese and sulfite oxidase column can be used 150 times.