Substrate-mediated Self-assembly of 1,3,5-Benzene/Triazine Functionalized by Flexible Isopropylethynyl Groups

doi:10.1007/s40242-025-5077-x

Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (5): 1048-1055.doi: 10.1007/s40242-025-5077-x

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Substrate-mediated Self-assembly of 1,3,5-Benzene/Triazine Functionalized by Flexible Isopropylethynyl Groups

LIN Yu, YOU Sifan, XIE Miao, ZHANG Meng, XU Chaojie, CHI Lifeng

State Key Laboratory of Bioinspired Interfacial Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, P. R. China

Received:2025-04-23 Accepted:2025-05-30 Online:2025-10-01 Published:2025-09-26
Contact: XU Chaojie, E-mail: cjxu@suda.edu.cn;CHI Lifeng, E-mail: chilf@suda.edu.cn E-mail:cjxu@suda.edu.cn;chilf@suda.edu.cn
Supported by:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U24A20496), the Project of the Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science & Technology, China, the Project of the Joint International Research Laboratory of Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, the ‘111’ Project, and the Project of the Suzhou Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Intelligent Matter, China (No. SZS2022011).

Abstract

Abstract: Nanofabrication of tunable two-dimensional (2D) supramolecular architecture relies on the delicate balance between molecule-molecule and molecule-substrate interactions, where carefully designed molecules as building blocks are required. In this study, we introduced isopropylethynyl groups into two tripodal molecules, i.e., 1,3,5-tris-(isopropylethynyl)-benzene (iPr-TEB) and 2,4,6-tris-(isopropylethynyl)-1,3,5-triazine (iPr-TET), and investigated their self-assembly on Au(111) and Ag(111) surfaces under ultra-high-vacuum using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). On Au(111) and Ag(111), iPr-TEB formed relatively comparable self-assembled nanopatterns through side-by-side dimers aggregation. These subtle differences in aggregation correlate with their negligible variations in adsorption conformation and energy. In contrast, iPr-TET exhibited pronounced substrate-dependent adsorption geometries due to stronger molecule-substrate interactions, resulting in disparate self-assembled nanoarchitectures on these two surfaces. Our results highlight the rotational flexibility of the isopropyl groups enabled by the single bond connecting them to the main acetylenic core, modulating intermolecular interactions and fine-tuning molecule-substrate interactions strength, hence providing a new strategy for crystal engineering in two dimensions.

Key words: Substrate-mediated self-assembly, Adsorption conformation, Scanning tunneling microscopy, 2D material

LIN Yu, YOU Sifan, XIE Miao, ZHANG Meng, XU Chaojie, CHI Lifeng. Substrate-mediated Self-assembly of 1,3,5-Benzene/Triazine Functionalized by Flexible Isopropylethynyl Groups[J]. Chemical Research in Chinese Universities, 2025, 41(5): 1048-1055.

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Substrate-mediated Self-assembly of 1,3,5-Benzene/Triazine Functionalized by Flexible Isopropylethynyl Groups

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