ECL performance of ruthenium tris-bipyridyl complexes covalently linked with phenothiazine through different bridge

Three ruthenium complexes 1a, 1b and 1c were synthesized, in which the phenothiazine moiety was covalently linked to the ruthenium complex through a 4 carbon chain and amide bond, respectively. The results demonstrate that one PTZ moiety is preferred to reach a good ECL performance, and the 4 carbon chain linked complex 1a exhibits the highest ECL enhancement (up to about 9 times), in comparison with the commonly utilized parent Ru(bpy)32+, permitting a lower detection limit of 1.0 × 10−14 M with signal to noise of 3 for 20 mM DBAE at Au electrode.