Synthesis and electrochemical studies of cationic organoiron dendrimers.

A no. of routes to the synthesis of dendrimeric materials coordinated to the cationic cyclopentadienyliron moiety were explored. As an example, reaction of dichloroarene cyclopentadienyliron complexes with a triphenolic compd. resulted in the formation of a trimetallic ether complex contg. terminal chloro groups. The resulting complex was subsequently reacted with other arom. ether complexes using a convergent approach to yield organometallic dendrimers with the metallic moieties pendent to the backbone of the macromols. The redox properties of these materials were explored using cyclic voltammetry. These studies showed that the organoiron species were reduced between -1.2 and -1.4 V, with the peripheral and inner cyclopentadienyliron moieties being distinguishable at low temps. and low sweep rates. Arom. ether complexes were also synthesized to include other functional groups in their backbones. For example, functionalization of the branches with carboxylic acid groups resulted in the arom. ether dendrimers being sol. in basic water