title: Efficient covalent modification of a carbon surface: use of a silyl protecting group to form an active monolayer.
abstract: A global strategy to prepare a versatile and robust reactive platform for immobilizing molecules on carbon substrates with controlled morphology and high selectivity is presented. The procedure is based on the electroreduction of a selected triisopropylsilyl (TIPS)-protected ethynyl aryldiazonium salt. It avoids the formation of multilayers and efficiently protects the functional group during the electrografting step. After TIPS deprotection, a dense reactive ethynyl aryl monolayer is obtained which presents a very low barrier to charge transfer between molecules in solution and the surface. As a test functionalization, azidomethylferrocene was coupled by "click" chemistry with the modified surface. Analysis of the redox activity highlights a surface concentration close to the maximum possible attachment considering the steric hindrance of a ferrocenyl group.
authors.affiliation: Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (Equipe MaCSE), CNRS, UMR 6226, Université de Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, Bat 10C, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Yann R
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Leroux
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fei
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Noël
authors.forename: Clément
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roux
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hapiot