BIOANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY: FROM MOLECULAR RECOGNITON TO NANOBIOSENSING (2nD EXPANDED EDITION)

About four years passed between the publication of the first and second edition of this book, but they were very intense years for the field of bioanalytical chemistry and biosensors. In fact, driven by the pressing demand of new and reliable analytical and diagnostic tools caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this relatively short time has witnessed an impressive development both of fundamental research and real-world application in this area. This prompted us to update and expand the contents of this textbook, to make it an effective and up-to-date teaching tool useful for the preparation of graduate students and researchers which are approaching the bioanalytical chemistry filed. The updates do not concern only new analytical and diagnostic devices and methods developed to support the fight against SARS-CoV-2, but also advances in other areas of bioanalytical chemistry which are rapidly evolving from research-lab scale to real-world applicability. On this line, chapter 4, 5, 6 were expanded. In particular, in the new chapter 4, in addition to updating the development of rapid tests for SARS-Cov-2 and HIV detection, we expanded the chapter content, previously based solely on the analytical use of antigen-antibody interactions, to include novel synthetic receptors, namely molecularly imprinted polymers and aptamers, and EIS as additional label-free detection technique. In chapter 5, we have introduced new sections concerned with the growing application of advanced methodologies, such as LAMP and RPA as alternatives to PCR for faster and simpler polynucleotide sequencing methods, as well as with the use of CRISPR for biosensing purposes. In chapter 6, devoted to nanotechnologies for bioanalysis, we expanded the section dealing with SERS, a nanomaterial-based highly sensitive evolution of Raman spectroscopy which is finding increasing application in the bioanalytical field. Indeed, nanotechnologies and nanomaterials are playing a progressively extended role in the development of novel bioanalytical tools. In practice, almost all the new topics introduced in the aforementioned chapters exploit the special properties of nanomaterials. Therefore, chapter 6 remains pivotal for understanding the most recent advances in bioanalytical chemistry and biosensing. We hope that the 2nd edition of this textbook can represent a further up-to-date tool for the preparation of young chemists, biochemists and biotechnologists who will venture in this fascinating and continuously evolving field.