Tuning the Covering on Gold Surfaces by Grafting Amino-Aryl Films Functionalized with Fe(II) Phthalocyanine: Performance on the Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Reduction

Current selective modification methods, coupled with functionalization through organic or inorganic molecules, are crucial for designing and constructing custom-made molecular materials that act as electroactive interfaces. A versatile method for derivatizing surfaces is through an aryl diazonium salt reduction reaction (DSRR). A prominent feature of this strategy is that it can be carried out on various materials. Using the DSRR, we modified gold surface electrodes with 4-aminebenzene from 4-nitrobenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate (NBTF), regulating the deposited mass of the aryl film to achieve covering control on the electrode surface. We got different degrees of covering: monolayer, intermediate, and multilayer. Afterwards, the ArNO2 end groups were electrochemically reduced to ArNH2 and functionalized with Fe(II)-Phthalocyanine to study the catalytic performance for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The thickness of the electrode covering determines its response in front of ORR. Interestingly, the experimental results showed that an intermediate covering film presents a better electrocatalytic response for ORR, driving the reaction by a four-electron pathway.

Raman reporters derived from aryl diazonium salts for SERS encoded-nanoparticles

A new generation of surface-enhanced Raman scattering encoded-nanoparticles has been designed by combining aryl diazonium salt chemistry and gold nanoparticles.

Aryl diazonium salt and thioacetamide: a catalyst free, efficient blend of an inexpensive arylating agent with “S” surrogate for sulphide synthesis

Metal free, chemoselective method for C–S, S–S bond formation reactions.