Complex supramolecular interfacial tessellation through convergent multi-step reaction of a dissymmetric simple organic precursor

Yi-Qi Zhang (1) , Mateusz Paszkiewicz (1) , Ping Du (2) , Liding Zhang (1) , Tao Lin (1) , Zhi Chen (2) , Svetlana Klyatskaya (2) , Mario Ruben (2, 3) , Ari Seitsonen (4) , Johannes Barth (1) , Florian Klappenberger (1)

1 Physik-Department E20
2 INT - Institute of Nanotechnology [Karlsruhe]
3 IPCMS - Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg
4 Département de Chimie, École Normale Supérieure

Interfacial supramolecular self-assembly represents a powerful tool for constructing regular and quasicrystalline materials. In particular, complex two-dimensional molecular tessellations, such as semi-regular Archimedean tilings with regular polygons, promise unique properties related to their nontrivial structures. However, their formation is challenging, because current methods are largely limited to the direct assembly of precursors, that is, where structure formation relies on molecular interactions without using chemical transformations. Here, we have chosen ethynyl-iodophenanthrene (which features dissymmetry in both geometry and reactivity) as a single starting precursor to generate the rare semi-regular (3.4.6.4) Archimedean tiling with long-range order on an atomically flat substrate through a multi-step reaction. Intriguingly, the individual chemical transformations converge to form a symmetric alkynyl–Ag–alkynyl complex as the new tecton in high yields. Using a combination of microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy tools, as well as computational modelling, we show that in situ generated catalytic Ag complexes mediate the tecton conversion.

Domains: Physics [physics]

Yi-Qi Zhang, Mateusz Paszkiewicz, Ping Du, Liding Zhang, Tao Lin, et al.. Complex supramolecular interfacial tessellation through convergent multi-step reaction of a dissymmetric simple organic precursor. Nature Chemistry, 2018, 10 (3), pp.296-304. ⟨10.1038/nchem.2924⟩. ⟨cea-04075531⟩