IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Organic Films and Devices Wednesday Sessions
       Session OF+NS+SS+BI-WeM

Paper OF+NS+SS+BI-WeM5
Mesoscopic Correlation of Supramolecular Chirality in One-Dimensional Hydrogen-Bonded Assemblies

Wednesday, October 31, 2001, 9:40 am, Room 131

Session: Self Assembled Monolayers/Ordered Films
Presenter: J.V. Barth, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Authors: J.V. Barth, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
J. Weckesser, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Germany
A. De Vita, Institut Romand de Recherche Numerique en Physique des Materiaux, Switzerland
C. Cai, University of Houston
K. Kern, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
We studied enantioselective self-assembly in two dimensions employing the molecule 4-[trans-2-(pyrid-4-yl-vinyl)] benzoic acid. Scanning tunneling microscopy observations at noble metal surfaces reveal the formation of hydrogen-bonded supramolecular twin chains in two mirror-symmetric species, each containing only molecules of a given chirality. The twin chains are ordered in µmm-gratings, where a mesoscopic correlation of supramolecular chirality over the entire domain size without intimate molecular contact persists. This novel phenomenon reflects mesoscopic chiral segregation due to chiral recognition in the formation of the supramolecular assemblies. Theoretical modelling in conjunction with direct observations indicate that twin chains act as enantioselective templates for transient molecular attachment, which process mediates self-replication of supramolecular chirality and the enantiopure gratings' evolution.