Patent ID: 7090756

Claim:
A sensor comprising: a working electrode; a counter electrode; and a redox mediator disposed proximate to the working electrode, the redox mediator comprising a polymeric transition metal complex that comprises: a polymeric backbone; spacers, each spacer covalently coupled to and extending from the polymeric backbone, each spacer comprising at least one non-cyclic functional group selected from the group consisting of —(CR r R s )—, —O—, —S—, —C(O)O—, —S(O) 2 NR k —, —OC(O)NR m —, —OC(S)NR n , —C(O)NR t —, —NR u —, —CR v ═N—O—, —CR w ═NNR x —, and —(SiR y R z )—, wherein R r and R s are independently hydrogen, chlorine, fluorine, or substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, alkoxy, alkenyl, or alkynyl, and R k , R m , R n , R t , R u , R v , R w , R x , R y , and R z are independently hydrogen or substituted or unsubstituted alkyl; and transition metal complexes, each transition metal complex having the formula: wherein M is cobalt, iron, ruthenium, osmium, or vanadium; and L 1 , L 2 , L 3 , L 4 , L 5 , and L 6 are ligands, each of the L 1 , L 2 , L 3 , L 4 , L 5 , and L 6 ligands comprises a heterocycle coordinatively bound to M via a heteroatom of the heterocycle, each of the L 1 , L 2 , L 3 , L 4 , L 5 , and L 6 ligands is independently a monodentate ligand or is combined with at least one other of the L 1 , L 2 , L 3 , L 4 , L 5 , and L 6 ligands to form a multidentate ligand, and at least one ligand of the L 1 , L 2 , L 3 , L 4 , L 5 , and L 6 ligands is covalently coupled to one of the spacers.