Synthesis and characterization of tetraalkylated and functionalized polyalkylated ferrocenes and their applications for the selective redox-recyclable extraction and detection of aqueous anions

Abstract

Several new tetraalkylated ferrocenes and functionalized polyalkylated ferrocenes have recently been synthesized and used for the selective ion exchange and detection of aqueous anions. The synthesis of new, functionalized polyalkylated ferrocenes is key to the development of novel, robust ion exchange compounds that can be used in materials synthesis or surface modification. The resulting materials have applications in both the remediation and detection of pollutant anions in aqueous media. The goal of this work is the synthesis and characterization of several novel polyalkylated ferrocenes and the study of their applications toward the remediation and detection of aqueous media containing pollutant anions. Several new functionalized polyalkylated ferrocenes have been synthesized and used for materials synthesis or surface modification toward this end. In addition, a novel method of electrochemical anion detection is discussed using some of the electroactive polyalkylated ferrocenyl materials synthesized. Due to the importance of selectivity for both remediation and detection, the ion-exchange selectivity of these novel polyalkylated ferrocenes for both applications was determined as further characterization of the new ion-exchange materials.