2-D Self-assembly of Alkyl-substituted Oligophenylene Derivatives at the Liquid/Solid Interface: Influence of Core Size and Hydrogen Bonds on the Nucleation-Elongation Process

The adsorption process at a liquid/graphite interface was investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy for a series of ester and amide derivatives which have a different number of phenyl rings in the core structure. We found that ester derivatives showed high cooperativity despite the lack of hydrogen bonding and that the Gibbs free energy for adsorption during the elongation process negatively increased with increasing number of phenyl groups in the core structure.