SYNTHESIS OF COBALTOCENIUM SALTS FOR USE AS REDOX LABELS AND THEIR INCORPORATION INTO NAFION FILMS

A cobaltocenium label was covalently attached to two antidepressants, nortriptyline and desipramine, via an amide linkage, and also to the hydrazine derivative of the biologically important compound biotin (vitamin H), again via an amide linkage. Analytically pure samples of these new cobaltocenium salts could be obtained by chromatography on silica gel followed by elution with aqueous acetone solutions containing sodium chloride (NaCl). These positively charged cobaltocenium ions preconcentrate in a polyanionic Nafion film coated on a glassy carbon surface, albeit at different concentration levels. One factor which seems to influence the amount of cobaltocenium ion that enters the film is polarity since the cobaltocenium ion containing the rather polar biotin preconcentrates at the lowest level in the relatively hydrophobic Nafion. Square-wave voltammograms of Nafion films containing these cobaltocenium cations exhibit a one-electron, reversible, reduction wave at approximately -1.1 V (vs Ag/AgCl) with peak currents that are sufficiently large to permit detection of 10(-8) m quantities of these substances in the bulk solution.