Joining ferrocene units into a closed ring produces a family of nanoscale, redox-active molecules—not a finished electronic component. In a 2016 study, researchers synthesized rings containing five, six, seven, or nine ferrocene units, linked directly by carbon–carbon bonds, and measured distinct one-electron redox transitions in solution.
What does “ferrocene full circle” mean?
Ferrocene is an organometallic compound with an iron atom between two cyclopentadienyl rings. Its ability to undergo redox changes—the loss or gain of electrons—and the reactivity of its aromatic rings make it possible to modify and connect ferrocene units.
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In the work reported by Michael S. Inkpen and colleagues, each unit was joined directly to the next through carbon–carbon bonds between cyclopentadienyl groups. The result was a covalent macrocycle: a large molecular ring made from ferrocene units, rather than metal-containing units separated by spacer molecules. The peer-reviewed paper, “Oligomeric ferrocene rings”, appeared online in Nature Chemistry on 27 June 2016.
Which rings did the team make?
The reported series included four ring sizes. Each number below is the count of ferrocene units in one molecular ring.
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| Ring | Ferrocene units | What can be compared |
|---|---|---|
| Five-membered ring | 5 | Ring size and its solution redox transitions |
| Six-membered ring | 6 | Ring size and its solution redox transitions |
| Seven-membered ring | 7 | Ring size and its solution redox transitions |
| Nine-membered ring | 9 | Ring size and its solution redox transitions |
The study describes these as the first family of cyclic oligomers built from strongly interacting redox-active monomer units. The six-ferrocene macrocycle prompted Ian Manners of the University of Bristol to call it “a kind of organometallic analogue of benzene,” an analogy about its cyclic molecular structure, not a claim that the compounds are chemically identical.
What did the electrochemistry show?
In solution voltammetry, the rings displayed well-resolved, separated one-electron waves. A voltammetric wave marks a redox transition: the molecule undergoes a change associated with one electron. Because the transitions were separated, the researchers could distinguish successive changes rather than seeing them collapse into one unresolved response.
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Inkpen and colleagues used the equilibrium potentials and spacing between these transitions to examine how ring size and charge state relate to interactions among the redox centers. The paper reports that interaction free energies scale linearly with overall ring charge. Together with fast intramolecular electron transfer, this led the authors to describe the molecules as uniformly charged nanorings.
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Inkpen and colleagues reported an intramolecular electron-transfer rate of approximately 107 s−1 and ring diameters of approximately 1–2 nm. These are measurements and estimates reported for the molecules in the 2016 study, not performance specifications for a device.
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The dimensions explain the term “nanoring”: the structures are molecular-scale loops. The electron-transfer result concerns movement within a molecule; it does not show that a ring can carry current through a practical circuit or operate as a component.
Are these rings used in electronics or other devices?
The 2016 work established synthesis and solution electrochemical properties. It did not demonstrate a consumer product, a working electronic device, or a commercial use. Electronics and plasmonics were discussed as possible future application areas, not as results already achieved.
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Manners also identified host–guest chemistry and cyclic polymeric analogues as possible directions. Those ideas were conditional on improving yields while maintaining solubility; they should be understood as research possibilities, not established capabilities of the reported rings.
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The study showed that ferrocene units can be assembled into closed, directly linked rings whose redox behavior can be resolved and analyzed. That gives chemists a molecular system for studying how redox centers interact as the ring’s size and charge change.
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Further work would be needed to establish whether these structures can be made more efficiently, retain useful solubility, or perform in any proposed application. The feature reported that the team was investigating more efficient synthesis and the rings’ electrical and chemical properties. The available findings do not establish a finished technology or a route to consumer availability.
Publication details
The primary report, by Michael S. Inkpen, Stefan Scheerer, Michael Linseis, Andrew J. P. White, Rainer F. Winter, Tim Albrecht, and Nicholas J. Long, was published in Nature Chemistry, volume 8, pages 825–830 (2016), DOI 10.1038/nchem.2553. The authors were affiliated with Imperial College London and the University of Konstanz. A contemporary overview appeared in Chemistry World on 28 June 2016.
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