title: Bipyridine derivatives at a solid/liquid interface: effects of the number and length of peripheral alkyl chains.
abstract: Bipyridine derivatives (bpys) with various number and length of peripheral alkyl chains (with carbon numbers of n = 11-17) were synthesized, and their self-assembled monolayers were observed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at a 1-phenyloctane/highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) interface. The effects of the number, the substitution position, and the length of alkyl chains on the two-dimensional structures were systematically studied. Bpys substituted by a single alkyl chain in the p-position on each side adopted an almost linear form with zigzag-type alignment of the pi-conjugated unit, whereas, in the case of m-substitution, the bpys showed Z-shaped morphology with interdigitated alkyl chains. In both cases, no odd-even alkyl chain length effects were observed. The bpys with double alkyl chains at m- and p-positions displayed odd-even alkyl chain effects, suggesting that the formation of two-dimensional structure is dominated by the interactions between alkyl chains. Bpys with triple alkyl chains at o-, m-, and p-positions also showed odd-even alkyl chain effects, but only for the higher number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain unit (n = 14-17). These results indicate that concerted intermolecular interactions of the alkyl chain unit introduce the odd-even chain length effect on the self-assembled two-dimensional structure. After coordination of PdCl(2), odd-even effects were quenched, and bpys were converged into the same lamellar structure, in which the molecules are almost linear. All the structural differences due to the odd-even alkyl chain length effect were explained in terms of intermolecular and molecule-substrate interactions.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8562, Japan. y.kikkawa@aist.go.jp
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kikkawa
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuzuki
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanesato