Decoration of Cowpea mosaic virus with multiple, redox-active, organometallic complexes

The decoration of Cowpea Mosaic Virus (CPMV), a viral nanoscale building block, with a redox-active organometallic complex ferrocenecarboxylate was investigated. It was shown that the topology of a CPMV, as it displays 60 identical units on its outer surface, can be regarded as a large self-assembled dendrimer. It was found that the larger, ferrocene-decorated CPMV particle possesses an almost fourfold higher number of redox centers per dendrimer unit. It was suggested that this process can lead to the development of interesting electron-transfer mediators in redox catalysis, molecular recognition, and amperometric biosensors.