Bilirubin oxidases in bioelectrochemistry: features and recent findings.

Bilirubin oxidases, a sub class of the Multicopper oxidases family, were discovered in 1981 by Tanaka and Murao (Murao and Tanaka, 1981) and first used for the detection of bilirubin. Since 2001 and the pioneering work of Tsujimura, these BODs have attracted a lot of attention for the reduction of O2. Unlike laccases, these BODs are stable in physiological conditions (20mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.

Emulsion-templated macroporous carbons synthesized by hydrothermal carbonization and their application for the enzymatic oxidation of glucose.

Carbon-based monoliths have been designed using a simple synthetic pathway based on using high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) as a soft template to confine the polymerization and hydrothermal carbonization of saccharide derivatives (furfural) and phenolic compounds (phloroglucinol). Monosaccharides can be isolated from the cellulosic fraction of lignocellulosic biomass and phloroglucinol can be extracted from the bark of fruit trees; however, this approach constitutes an interesting sustainable synthetic route. The macroscopic characteristics can be easily modulated; a high macroporosity and total pore volume of up to 98 % and 18 cm(3)g(-1) have been obtained, respectively.