Electrochemical studies of the multi‐step multi‐electron redox process of tetraferrocenyloligothiophenes with electron donor and acceptor abilities

Abstract

AbstractWe have designed and synthesized tetraferrocenyloligothiophenes, namely, 4,4′5,5′‐tetraferrocenyl‐2,2′‐bithiophene (TFBT) and 4,4″,5,5″‐tetraferrocenyl‐2,2′:5′,2″‐terthiophene (TFTT). By using an electrochemical technique, we revealed that tetraferrocenyloligothiophenes show multi‐redox reactions derived from four ferrocene fragments and one α‐oligothiophene spacer, and a number of the thiophene rings in the α‐oligothiophene spacer can be attuned to the redox potentials and the multiple electron transfer process. Consequently, we have succeeded in the construction of different types of multi‐step multi‐electron redox systems by constructing four organometallic redox‐active ferrocenes and one organic redox‐active α‐oligothiophene differing in the number of thiophene rings.