Raising flags: applications of chemical marker groups to study self-assembly, chirality, and orientation of interfacial films by scanning tunneling microscopy.
When used in conjunction with "chemical marker groups" (functionalities such as -Br and -COOH), scanning tunneling microscopy is a powerful tool for studying the properties of liquid-solid interfaces. Chemical markers serve as "flags" for the identification of interfacial structures, allowing, for example, the absolute chirality of optically active molecules self-assembling on a graphite surface to be determined. Subtle changes in the orientation of these chemical functionalities that affect the long-range order of interfacial films have also been observed and explored. Finally, alterations in self-assembly resulting from variations in adsorbate or substrate structure can be deduced by taking advantage of these STM "flags".
Department of Chemistry and Columbia Radiation Laboratory, New York, New York 10027, USA.
L C
LC
Giancarlo
G W
GW
Flynn
D002621:Chemistry / Q000379:methods*; D016252:Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling / Q000379:methods*; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds