Enzyme electrode system for oxalate determination utilizing oxalate decarboxylase immobilized on a carbon dioxide sensor

A highly selective enzyme electrode system for oxalate is described in which the enzyme oxalate decarboxylase is immobilized on a carbon dioxide gas-sensing electrode. The response of the system is linear with the logarithm of the oxalate concentration between 2 × 10^-4 and I × 10^-2 M with a slope of 57–60 mV/decade. The oxalate detection limit is 4 × 10^-5 M. Electrodes used with chemically immobilized enzyme are not affected by phosphate and sulfate at levels normally found in urine and are very stable showing no decrease in response after one month of operation. The enzyme electrode system functions well in urine, requiring minimal sample pretreatment. The recovery of oxalate added to five aliquots of a human control urine sample averaged 97.7% with an average relative standard deviation of 4.5%.