文摘
Functional molecules, especially with carboxyl groups are crucial in building supramolecular structures. It is great important to study the effect of the symmetry, number of carboxyl groups on the self-assembly behavior of corresponding molecules. A series of hexaphenylbenzene (HPB) derivatives (HPB-1,3,5-3A, HPB-1,2,4-3A, and HPB-1,4-2A) substituted with different number of carboxyl groups at different position have been synthesized and their self-assembled structures were investigated at both 1-phenyloctane/HOPG and heptanoic acid/HOPG interfaces by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) technique. The self-assembled mechanisms of these HPB-based compounds were further studied with the help of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results indicate that symmetry and number of carboxyl groups as well as solvent play a significant role on the tuning self-assemble process resulting in various structures.