AVS 51st International Symposium
    Surface Science Monday Sessions
       Session SS2-MoA

Paper SS2-MoA8
Tuning of Orientation and Chiral Recognition of a Single Chiral Molecule in Self-Assembly through Modulation of Anchoring Sites

Monday, November 15, 2004, 4:20 pm, Room 210C

Session: Assembled Monolayers
Presenter: B.I. Kim, Boise State University
Authors: B.I. Kim, Boise State University
C.Z. Cai, University of Houston
S.S. Perry, University of Houston
Correspondent: Click to Email
Rod-like aromatic systems with conducting @pi@-backbones are of interest as potential building blocks for electronic devices. Hydrogen bonding could be used as a conductive linkage of molecular wire on a surface. When we build up a self-assembly with rod-like molecules on a surface through hydrogen bonding, we can use chirality to control the configuration of the nanostructure. Recent studies show that chirality plays an important role in site-specific adsorption of molecules, formation of extended chiral domains, and enhancement of stability of clusters and chains. However, those observations have been limited to specific chiral adsorption configurations without addressing more tunable modification of them for a novel nano-engineering. Here we present scanning tunneling microscopy studies of a chiral molecule with two functionalized benzene rings, 4-trans-2-(pyrid-4-yl-vynyl) benzoic acid(PVBA), on surfaces. PVBA shows chiral separation on Ag(111) but not on Pd(111) while it shows orientational separation on Pd(111) but not on Ag(111). An angle dependent model calculation indicates that the orientation and chiral recognition could be tuned through modulation of double anchoring sites, applicable for flexible nano-wire and chiral separation on the surface.