Molecular random tilings as glasses

We have recently shown that p-terphenyl-3,5,3',5'-tetracarboxylic acid adsorbed on graphite self-assembles into a two-dimensional rhombus random tiling. This tiling is close to ideal, displaying long-range correlations punctuated by sparse localized tiling defects. In this article we explore the analogy between dynamic arrest in this type of random tilings and that of structural glasses. We show that the structural relaxation of these systems is via the propagation-reaction of tiling defects, giving rise to dynamic heterogeneity. We study the scaling properties of the dynamics and discuss connections with kinetically constrained models of glasses.