Anion-Binding-Induced Electrochemical Signal Transduction in Ferrocenylimidazolium: Combined Electrochemical Experimental and Theoretical Investigation
Tan-Qing Weng,
Yi-Fan Huang,
Lou-Sha Xue,
Jie Cheng,
Shan Jin,
Sheng-Hua Liu,
De-Yin Wu,
George Z. Chen
Affiliations
Tan-Qing Weng
Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Yi-Fan Huang
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Lou-Sha Xue
Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Jie Cheng
Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Shan Jin
Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Sheng-Hua Liu
Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
De-Yin Wu
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
George Z. Chen
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and Advanced Materials Research Group, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Five ferrocene alkymethylimidazolium cations 1a–1d and 2 with different alkyl spacer lengths were reinvestigated using voltammetry and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The voltammetric responses of ligand 2 toward various anions are described in detail. An interesting and unprecedented finding from both experimental and theoretical studies is that coupled electron and intramolecular anion (F−) transfer may be present in these molecules. In addition, it was also observed that, in these studied molecules, the electrostatic attraction interaction toward F− would effectively vanish beyond 1 nm, which was previously reported only for cations.
