Hydrophobic Ferrocene Derivatives as Potential Standards in Electrochemistry

Abstract

Ferrocene (FcH) derivatives monosubstituted by palmitoyl (1), hexadecyl (2), 1-adamantoyl (3) or 1-adamantylmethyl (4) groups were sythesized and characterized by NMR, mass and 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy. The structure of 1-adamantoylferrocene was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Cyclic voltammetry on gold and glass-like carbon electrodes demonstrated that the compounds can serve as electrochemical standards for special cases since their ferrocene/ferricinium redox potential remains stable and reversible, while the properties such as solubility, diffusion coefficients and surface tension are strongly solvent-dependent.