Novel covalent immobilization of cobalt (II) octa acyl chloride phthalocyanines onto phenylethylamine pre-grafted gold via spontaneous amidation

Abstract

In this work, a gold electrode surface was pre-grafted with phenylethylamine (PEA) thin film for spontaneous covalent immobilization of cobalt (II) octa acyl chloride (CoOAClPc) via the nucleophilic addition reaction. Pre-grafting of PEA thin film was achieved by electrochemical reduction of 4-(2-aminoethyl) benzene diazonium (AEBD) salt. Cobalt (II) octa acyl chloride phthalocyanine (CoOAClPc) was successfully synthesized and covalently immobilized onto the pre-grafted gold electrode surface to form a thin monolayer of Au-PEA-CoOAClPc. Upon hydrolysis of the thin monolayer, the –COCl terminal functional groups were converted to -COOH to form Au-PEA-CoOCAPc. The presence of PEA and PEA-CoOCAPc was confirmed by electrochemical X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy surface characterization. The pH sensitivity of -COOH terminal groups was studied using a negatively charged [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− and a positively charged [Ru(NH3)6]2+/3+ redox probes. The Au-PEA-CoOCAPc was investigated for electrocatalytic and electroanalytical properties towards the detection of catecholamine neurotransmitters (dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine). The electrocatalytic oxidation of the catecholamine neurotransmitters in PBS solution (pH 7.4) was studied using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) in a linear range up to 50 μM. The limit of detection (LOD) was determined to be 64 nM, 0.22 μM and 0.17 μM for dopamine (DA), epinephrine (EP) and norepinephrine (NOR) respectively. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was determined to be 0.21 μM, 0.73 μM and 0.56 μM for DA, EP and NOR respectively. Stable and reproducible novel method of electrode fabrication to form Au-PEA-CoOCAPc was achieved. Excellent analytical properties (sensitivity, low detection limits and limit of quantification) were obtained by using the fabricated electrochemical sensors, Au-PEA-CoOCAPc, for the determination of catecholamine neurotransmitters and screening of ascorbic acid (AA).