The aggregation properties of a series of three amphiphilic copper(II)
complexes on a glassy carbon (GC) electrode were examined by means of
cyclic voltammetry (CV) and Osteryoung square wave voltammetry (OSWV)
. The complexes examined consisted of a copper-binding polar head, mod
eled after the metal-binding site of the antibiotic Bleomycin, connect
ed to a C-16 aliphatic tail. In the pH range explored, 6.0-7.3, all th
e complexes were found to self-assemble on the rough GC surface. Compa
rison with similar allowed a quantitative treatment of the data. The d
ata fit to the Langmuir isotherm allowed determination of the electrod
e surface coverage, Gamma(sat), which was consistent with the formatio
n of a monolayer. Preliminary characterization of the structure formed
on HOPG by STM confirms the presence of a monolayer.