In this minireview, we discuss the emerging optical biosensing and bioimaging techniques that leverage the unique optical properties of gold nanoparticles.

Phenolic compounds (PhCs) are ubiquitously distributed phytochemicals found in many plants, body fluids, food items, medicines, pesticides, dyes, etc. Many PhCs are priority pollutants that are highly toxic, teratogenic, and carcinogenic. Some of these are present in body fluids and affect metabolism, while others possess numerous bioactive properties such as retaining antioxidant and antimicrobial activity in plants and food products. Therefore, there is an urgency for developing an effective, rapid, sensitive, and reliable tool for the analysis of these PhCs to address their environmental and health concern. In this context, carbonaceous nanomaterials have emerged as a promising material for the fabrication of electrochemical biosensors as they provide remarkable characteristics such as lightweight, high surface: volume, excellent conductivity, extraordinary tensile strength, and biocompatibility. This review outlines the current status of the applications of carbonaceous nanomaterials (CNTs, graphene, etc.) based enzymatic electrochemical biosensors for the detection of PhCs. Efforts have also been made to discuss the mechanism of action of the laccase enzyme for the detection of PhCs. The limitations, advanced emerging carbon-based material, current state of artificial intelligence in PhCs detection, and future scopes have also been summarized.