Electrooxidation of biologically important hypoxanthine nucleosides and nucleotides at solid electrodes

The oxidation chemistry of hypoxanthine nucleosides and nucleotides viz., inosine, 2′-deoxyinosine, inosine-5′-monophosphate and inosine-5′-triphosphate has been studied in the pH range 2.1-11.1 at pyrolytic graphite electrode. In all the four compounds oxidation occurs in 6H⁺, 6e process at physiological pH (7.2) leading to the formation of allantoin as a major product. The products dimers and tetramers formed in the secondary electrode reactions depend on the nature of sugar molecule (ribose or deoxyribose) present and number of phosphate moieties attached to the sugar moiety. A comparison of redox chemistry and formation of electrooxidised products of inosine and its derivatives has been presented in this paper.