| abstract |
The invention disclosed relates to an electrochemical assay which is particularly concerned with an assay for the presence of, or amount of, glycosylated haemoglobin in a blood sample, but which extends a general assay for detecting the presence of, monitoring the level of or determining the concentration of compounds containing cis-diol groups, such as glycols, nucleic acid components, sugars, polyols, catechols and glycosylated proteins. n When ferrocene boronic acid or a derivative thereof is present free in solution, it can act as a mediator for a wide range of oxido-reductases. Howeverin the presence of, for example. sugars containing the cis-diol structure, the metallocine (such as ferrocene boronic acid) covalently binds to the sugar. When the ferrocene boronic acid is thus bound, it is essentially immobilized and its properties as a mediator and ability to diffuse will be markedly affected. |