RESUMO
An electrochemical magneto biosensor for the rapid determination of biotin in food samples is reported. The affinity reaction was performed on streptavidin-modified magnetic microbeads as a solid support in a direct competitive format. The biotinylated horseradish peroxidase enzyme (biotin-HRP) competes with free biotin in the sample for the binding sites of streptavidin on the magnetic microbeads. The modified magnetic beads were then easily captured by a magneto graphite-epoxy composite electrode and the electrochemical signal was based on the enzymatic activity of the HRP enzyme under the addition of H(2)O(2) as the substrate and o-phenilendiamine as cosubstrate. The response was electrochemically detected by square wave voltammetry. The limit of detection was 8.4×10(-8) mol L(--1) of biotin (20 µg L(--1)) with a dynamic range from 0.94 to 2.4×10(-7) mol L(--1). Biotin-fortified commercial dietary supplement and infant formula samples were evaluated obtaining good performances in the results. Total time of analysis was 40 min per 20 assays.