Applications of ferrocene-peptide conjugates: towards new biosensors and materials

Ferrocene-peptide conjugates represent a hybrid area between organometallic chemistry and biochemistry. In these bioconjugates, the ferrocene (Fc) moiety can serve as molecular scaffold, chromophore, sensitive probe, biological marker, redox active site, etc. Disubstituted Fc systems, in which both cyclopentadienyl rings are substituted, provide influence over the supramolecular structure of the assemblies, and serve as starting materials for the design of electronic biomaterials. Recently, 1'- amino-ferrocene-1-carboxylic acid (Fca) and 1,1'-diaminoferrocene Fc[NH2]2 were recognized as useful tools in bioorganometallic chemistry. This work sketches some novel preparative and structural aspects of Fc-peptide conjugates and explores their applications as biosensors and as polymeric materials.