Oxidizable cation sensors

OXIDIZABLE CATION SENSORS Ferrocene crown ether species 

The electrochemical properties of ferrocene have been utilized by many workers in the field of electrochemical molecular recognition. Saji (1986) showed that the previously synthesized (Biernat and Wilczewski, 1980) ferrocene crown ether molecule (Fig. 3 [1]), whose binding properties had previously been studied only by nmr and UV/Vis techniques (Akabori et al., 1983), could be used as an electrochemical sensor for alkali metal cations involving a combination of through-space and through-bond interactions. 

Initially, on addition of sodium cations to a solution of the ligand, two distinct CV waves were observed, corresponding to the uncomplexed and complexed compound [1] (Fig. 4) (Chariot et al., 1962). The wave at the higher positive potential corresponds to the solution complexed species. The oxidized ferrocene crown ether has a lower binding constant with sodium than the 

The evolution of a new set of electrochemical waves (as opposed to the gradual shifting of the redox couple) on addition of guest species may be due to a number of factors. If the complex formed has a particularly high stability constant and has a redox potential which is markedly different from that of the free ligand, a new set of waves may be observed. However, if the decomplexation kinetics of the complex formed is particularly slow on the electrochemical time scale then, as the potential is scanned between the vertex points during a cyclic voltammetric experiment, the solution complexed species will be stable over this time period and the two sets of waves will correspond to free ligand and complex. Therefore care should be taken to determine the cause of the evolution of a new set of electrochemical waves and 

In 1990 we reported the synthesis of new redox-responsive crown ether molecules that contain a conjugated link between the crown ether unit and a ferrocene redox-active centre (Beer et al., 1990a). Examples of some of the species synthesized are shown in Fig. 5. The electrochemical behaviour of these species was investigated and also the electrochemical behaviour of their analogues with a saturated link between the ferrocene unit and the crown ether. The changes in the CVs of [2a] upon addition of magnesium cations are shown in Fig. 6. The metal cation-induced anodic shifts of [2a], [2b] and also their saturated analogue [3] and vinyl derivatives [4a], [4b] are shown in Table 1. 

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