Influence of a spin crossover iron(iii) complex on the detection of phenylenediamines of graphene-modified screen printed electrodes

Abstract

We developed a sensitive voltammetric sensor for detecting aromatic phenylenediamine (PD) isomers: para-phenylenediamine (p-PD), ortho-phenylenediamine (o-PD), and meta-phenylenediamine (m-PD). This sensor uses a screen-printed graphene electrode (SPGE) modified with a new spin crossover (SCO) FeIII-complex [Fe(salEen-5-I)2]NCS 1. The structure of 1·0.3CH2Cl2·0.5H2O has been determined by single crystal X-ray crystallography and confirmed by spectroscopic techniques. Magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal a gradual SCO around room temperature. SEM-EDX and XPS analysis confirm the smooth surface morphology and uniform distribution of the SCO molecule on the modified 1-SPGE. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) shows that the modified 1-SPGE exhibited higher sensitivity to PDs than the bare SPGE. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) provided linear responses for p-PD (0.3-150 μM), o-PD (0.5-100 μM), and m-PD (1-50 μM), with corresponding limits of detection (LODs, S/N = 3) of 0.062 μM, 0.20 μM, and 0.41 μM, respectively. Furthermore, we successfully employed 1-SPGE to simultaneously detect a mixture of all three PD isomers. Remarkably, these isomers displayed distinct and well-defined electrochemical signals, with comparable electrochemical parameters to those observed in individual measurements, allowing us to successfully use the modified 1-SPGE sensor to monitor PDs in real samples. © 2025 The Royal Society of Chemistry.