Dipicolylamine-zinc(II) complexes immobilized on gold electrodes allowed the selective electrochemical phosphate detection. The electrodes were prepared by assembling monolayers containing either (R)-N-(6-(bis(pyridine-2-ylmethyl)amino)hexyl)-5-(1,2-dithiolan-3-yl)pentanamide (DPA-hexyl) or (R)-N-(12-(bis(pyridine-2-ylmethyl)amino)dodecyl)-5-(1,2-dithiolan-3-yl)pentanamide (DPA-dodecyl) together with 4-mercapto-1-butanol (MB) on gold surfaces and subsequently adding zinc(II)nitrate to produce the corresponding surface-bound zinc(II) complexes. Both sensing systems displayed high sensitivity towards phosphate with detection limits close to 1.0 × 10^–15 M. Sensing was moreover very selective since sulfate, having a similar tetrahedral structure like phosphate, generated only a negligible electrochemical response. These electrodes were shown to allow the quantification of phosphate ions in lake water sample. Electrochemical studies indicated that the sensing mechanism was based on the redox activity of the pyridine units in the ligands complexed with Zn(II).

固定在金电极上的Dipicolylamine-zinc（II）配合物可以进行选择性的电化学磷酸盐检测。通过组装包含（R）-N-（6-（双（吡啶-2-基甲基）氨基）己基）-5-（1,2-二硫戊基-3-基）戊酰胺（DPA-己基）的单层制备电极）或（R）-N-（12-（双（吡啶-2-基甲基）氨基）十二烷基）-5-（1,2-二硫杂环戊-3-基）戊酰胺（DPA-十二烷基）与4-巯基-在金表面上加入1-丁醇（MB），然后添加硝酸锌（II）以生产相应的表面结合锌（II）配合物。两种传感系统均显示出对磷酸盐的高灵敏度，检出限接近1.0×10^–15M。此外，由于硫酸盐具有类似磷酸盐的类似四面体结构，因此产生的电化学反应可忽略不计。这些电极显示出可以定量测定湖水样品中的磷酸根离子。电化学研究表明，传感机理是基于与Zn（II）络合的配体中吡啶单元的氧化还原活性。