Ionic and neutral fluorosurfactants containing ferrocene moieties as chromophoric constituents

In two eventually interlinked projects emphasizing on the exploitation of the peculiar properties of ferrocene moieties, as well as fluoroponytails, the two compounds (E)-1-ferrocenyl-2-(1-(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)-4-pyridiniumyl)ethylene hexafluorophosphate and (4-perfluorooctylphenyl)ferrocene were prepared. Despite the crystallization of polyfluoroalkylated materials is usually very challenging, attempts to grow single-crystals suitable for X-ray determination were successful, allowing for a detailed structural discussion of ferrocene containing fluorosurfactants for the first time. Additionally, a tentative UV–vis study was performed in four solvents. In contrast to the commonplace spectral behavior of (4-perfluorooctylphenyl)ferrocene, different interesting features, including slight solvatochromism, peak-splitting at higher concentrations, as well as the formation of a colored dispersion were detected for the ionic dye (E)-1-ferrocenyl-2-(1-(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)-4-pyridiniumyl)ethylene hexafluorophosphate.