Microelectrode arrays: a general strategy for using oxidation reactions to site selectively modify electrode surfaces.

Oxidation reactions are powerful tools for synthesis because they allow for the functionalization of molecules. Here, we present a general method for conducting these reactions on a microelectrode array in a site-selective fashion. The reactions are run as a competition between generation of a chemical oxidant at the electrodes in the array and reduction of the oxidant by a "confining agent" in the solution above the array. The "confining agent" does not need to be more reactive than the substrate fixed to the surface of the array. In many cases, the same substrate placed on the surface of the array can also be used in solution as the confining agent.

Building addressable libraries: site selective coumarin synthesis and the "real-time" signaling of antibody-coumarin binding.

[reaction: see text] The feasibility of using active semiconductor chips containing addressable arrays of microelectrodes for the "real-time" monitoring of biologically relevant binding events has been demonstrated by detecting the binding of a coumarin substrate by an anticoumarin antibody. The coumarin substrate was synthesized proximal to predetermined electrodes on the chip with the use of a Pd(II) reagent that was itself generated by using the selected electrodes. Once the coumarin was synthesized, its binding to the anticoumarin antibody was detected by monitoring the current associated with a ferrocene-ferrocinium ion redox cycle that was established between the electrodes on the chip and a remote auxiliary electrode.

Building addressable libraries: spatially isolated, chip-based reductive amination reactions.

A Pd(II) reagent has been generated at preselected sites on an electrochemically addressable chip and used to effect the oxidation of the neighboring alcohols on the polymer coating the chip's surface. The resulting carbonyls were then used to accomplish site-selective reductive amination reactions on the chips. The work demonstrates that the confinement strategy developed for spatially isolated Wacker oxidations to specific sites on the chips is general and can be used for other Pd(II)-based reactions.

Building addressable libraries: the use of electrochemistry for spatially isolating a heck reaction on a chip.

Pd(0) was generated at preselected sites on an electrochemically addressable chip and then utilized to effect a Heck reaction. The Pd(0) was confined to the preselected electrodes with the use of allylmethyl carbonate. Unlike most mediated electrochemical reactions, the electrolysis in this case was not used to convert a stoichiometric process into a catalytic one by recycling the metal. Instead, the unique environment of the chip was used to interfere with a catalytic process to make it stoichiometric. This was done to gain spatial control over the reaction. The development of a strategy for conducting Pd(0)-catalyzed reactions on the chips should greatly expand the synthetic chemistry available for building chip-based libraries.

Building addressable libraries: the use of electrochemistry for generating reactive Pd(II) reagents at preselected sites on a chip.

A Pd(II) reagent has been generated at preselected sites on an electrochemically addressable chip. The reagent was used to effect the Wacker oxidation of an olefin substrate bound to the chip near the electrode. The use of ethyl vinyl ether in the solution above the chip effectively kept the Pd(II) reagent generated at the preselected electrode from migrating to neighboring electrodes and initiating Wacker oxidations at unwanted sites on the chip.