STM observation of molecular chirality and alignment on solid surface

✍ Scribed by Masahiro Taniguchi; Hiroko Nakagawa; Akihiko Yamagishi; Kohichi Yamada

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 439 KB
• Volume: 199
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1381-1169
• DOI: 10.1016/s1381-1169(03)00019-0

✦ Synopsis

Two-dimensional adlayer of a helically shaped aromatic compound, hexathia [11]heterohelicene ([11]TH), which consists of fused five benzene rings and six thiophene rings, was prepared on Au(1 1 1), Au(1 1 0) and polycrystalline gold under UHV condition. LEED and STM were used for characterization of alignment, ordering and chirality of [11]TH on these Au substrates. A [11]TH monolayer on Au(1 1 1) showed the presence of an adlayer lattice with six-fold symmetry, while [11]TH on Au(1 1 0) did align along 1 1 0 direction, and [11]TH adsorbed on a step bunching area formed chiral sensitive arrays, being one-dimensionally aligned chains. These observations are discussed in terms of stereoselective interaction among [11]TH's, which is strongly affected by the surface structure of a substrate.