Interfacial molecular recognition. Binding of ferrocenecarboxylate to β-aminocyclodextrin hosts electrostatically immobilized on a thioctic acid monolayer

The interfacial binding properties of electrodes prepared by the electrostatic immobilization of an adlayer of positively charged β-aminocyclodextrin (β-ACD) hosts on a self-assembled monolayer of thioctic acid on gold were investigated using Osteryoung square wave voltammetry. The results indicate that the water-soluble ferrocenecarboxylate (Fc-COO^-) guest was effectively bound by the interfacial β-ACD hosts, with binding constants in the range (2-5) × 10⁴ M^-1. The measured binding constants were found to increase slightly with the surface density of immobilized hosts.