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Ferrocene as an iconic redox marker: from solution chemistry to molecular electronic devices

Ferrocene, since its discovery in 1951, has been extensively exploited as a redox probe in a variety of processes ranging from solution chemistry, medicinal chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, surface chemistry to solid-state molecular electronic and spintronic circuit elements to unravel electrochemical charge-transfer dynamics. Ferrocene represents an extremely chemically and thermally stable, and highly reproducible redox probe that undergoes reversible one-electron oxidation and reduction occurring at the interfaces of electrode/ferrocene solution in response to applied anodic and cathodic potentials, respectively. It has been almost 70 years after its discovery and has become one of the most widely studied and model organometallic compounds not only for probing electrochemical charge-transfer process but also as molecular building blocks for the synthesis of chiral organometallic catalysts, potential drug candidates, polymeric compounds, electrochemical sensors, to name a few. Ferrocene and its derivatives have been a breakthrough in many aspects due to its versatile reactivity, fascinating chemical structures, unconventional metal-ligand coordination, and the magic number of electrons (18 e-). The present review discusses the recent progress made towards ferrocene-containing molecular systems exploited for redox reactions, surface attachment, spin-dependent electrochemical process to probe spin polarization, photo-electrochemistry, and integration into prototype molecular electronic devices. Overall, the present reviews demonstrate a piece of collective information about the recent advancements made towards the ferrocene and its derivatives that have been utilized as iconic redox markers.