A densely decorated disubstituted ferrocene as an ion-pair recognition receptor†
Abstract
A functionalized 1,1′-disubstituted ferrocene acts as an electro-optical ion-pair receptor for Mg2+, Ca2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ cations in the presence of a co-bound H2PO4− anion, through perturbation of the redox potential of the ferrocene unit, enhancement of the fluorescence and a noticeable colour change.