Syntheses and electrochemical characterization of new water soluble octaarylthiosubstituted manganese phthalocyanines

This paper reports on the synthesis and characterization of new manganese phthalocyanine (MnPc) complexes: 2,3-octakis-[(2-mercaptopyridine) phthalocyaninato] acetato manganese (III) (1) and its quaternized (hence water soluble) derivative: 2,3-octakis-{[(N-methyl-2-mercaptopyridine) phthalocyaninato] acetato manganese (III)} sulphate (2). The complexes were used to form self assembled monolayers (SAMs). Voltammetry proved that both of the SAMs are well packed, strongly passivating and act as selective and efficient barriers to ion permeability. Furthermore, surface coverage studies confirmed that the MPc macrocycles adsorb onto the gold electrode as monolayers. Both MPc SAMs were successfully used as electrochemical sensors of nitrite.