Tyrosinase-Immobilized MCM-41 for the Detection of Phenol Priti A. Mangrulkar & Renu Yadav & Jyotsna S. Meshram & Nitin K. Labhsetwar & Sadhana S. Rayalu Received: 31 January 2011 /Accepted: 25 July 2011 /Published online: 17 August 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract In the present investigation, we report the immobilization of the enzyme tyrosinase on mesopo- rous silica material, i.e. MCM-41 to serve as a tool for the detection of phenol. The enzyme immobilized onto the MCM-41 matrix has shown to retain its activity and is quite stable. The immobilization of enzyme has been discussed, and the various factors that affect the loading of enzyme onto MCM-41 were studied and optimized. The applicability of tyrosinase-immobilized MCM-41 was then demonstrated for the detection of phenol. The lowest detectable concentration of phenol by tyrosinase- immobilized MCM-41 was observed to be 1 mg l -1 . The factors influencing the detection of phenol were then studied in detail. Keywords Tyrosinase . MCM-41 . Immobilization . Phenol detection 1 Introduction Phenol and its derivatives are common contaminants encountered in the effluents of various industries like petrochemical, coal conversion and phenol producing industries (US EPA 1987). Phenol is listed among the top priority pollutant by EPA (Keith and Telliard 1979). Phenol is known to be toxic, and it can adversely affect human health and aquatic biota. Even a small amount of phenol can seriously affect the use and reuse of water. This has led to impose stringent limits on the presence of phenol in potable and waste waters. It is therefore of utmost importance to detect and monitor the presence of phenol in water. Concerted efforts are being made worldwide to overcome the problems of detection of phenolics at low concentration. Several methods have been reported in the litera- ture for detection of phenols like spectrophotometric method, high-performance liquid chromatography, fluorescence etc. However, there is a need for simple, sensitive and effective method for detection of phenol which would also be helpful in field monitoring. Biosensors have emerged as one of the alternatives in this direction. The analysis of phenolic compounds by suitable biosensors based on tyrosinase enzyme is gaining significance. Tyrosinase is a copper containing enzyme which can catalyze oxidation of phenol to quinones at the expense of molecular oxygen (Stephanie 1994). The construction of a biosensor by immobiliza- tion of tyrosinase can be accomplished by several Water Air Soil Pollut (2012) 223:819–825 DOI 10.1007/s11270-011-0904-8 P. A. Mangrulkar : R. Yadav : N. K. Labhsetwar : S. S. Rayalu (*) Environmental Materials Division, CSIR-NEERI, Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440020, India e-mail: s_rayalu@neeri.res.in J. S. Meshram P.G Department of Chemistry, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj, Nagpur University, Nagpur 440033, India