Surface-Confined Self-Assembly of Di-carbonitrile Polyphenyls

This Feature Article reports on the controlled formation and structure-functionality aspects of vacuum-deposited self-assembled organic and metal-organic networks at metal surfaces using ditopic linear and nonlinear molecular bricks, namely di-carbonitrile polyphenyls. Surface confined supramolecular organization of linear aromatic molecules leads to a fascinating variety of open networks. Moreover, cobalt-directed assembly of the same linear linkers reveals highly regular, open honeycomb networks with tunable pore sizes representing versatile templates for the organization of molecular guests or metal clusters and the control of supramolecular dynamers. In addition, the 2D nanopore organic networks act as arrays of quantum corrals exhibiting confinement of the surface-electronic states of the metallic substrate. A reduction of the linker symmetry leads to the formation of disordered, glassy coordination networks, which represent a structural model for amorphous materials.