Spontaneous attachment of lithium-activated ferrocenylalkynes to carbon and gold

• Ferrocenyl lithioacetylides in THF attach covalently to unconnected electrodes.
• Ethynyl-linked ferrocene and substituted ferrocenes attached to carbon, gold.
• Close to monolayer coverage obtained
• Hundreds or thousands of CV scans possible for modified electrodes
• ‘Spontaneous’ attachment method avoids the need for electrochemical grafting.

Ferrocenes derivatized with a terminal lithioacetylide group react rapidly with unconnected glassy carbon and gold electrodes, giving up to monolayer-level surface coverage. The molecule-to-surface bonding is sufficiently robust to resist sonication, extended storage under dinitrogen, and thousands of repetitive voltammetric scans through the ferrocenyl oxidation wave. This “spontaneous” modification method provides a non-electrochemical pathway to the strong, apparently covalent, attachment of alkynyl-linked molecular tags to carbon and metal surfaces.

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