\n Chemical structure of a trioxatriangulenium functionalized with phenyl.<\/p>\n
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\n Chemical structure of a trioxatriangulenium functionalized with phenyl.<\/p>\n
Each dot in these glowing green patterns is a molecule resting on a gold surface. Specifically, each is a phenyl-functionalized trioxatriangulenium (phenyl-TOTA), a molecule with a phenyl ring sticking out of a base shaped like an upside-down bowl. Behzad Mortezapour, a PhD candidate in Richard Berndt\u2019s lab at Christian Albrecht University Kiel, captured these images using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and noticed that the molecules slotted into grooves in the gold\u2019s regular crystalline structure, revealing hexagonal and linear patterns.<\/p>\n
Using the STM, the researchers wanted to find out if they could rotate the phenyl ring on one phenyl-TOTA and affect the rotation on a nearby molecule. Because their microscope had such good resolution, they were able to zoom in and see how each single-molecule dot appears to split into two dots under certain conditions. They eventually concluded that this split reflected the alignment of each phenyl ring.<\/p>\n
\n Ball-and-stick structures of triangular molecules are overlaid on top of a hexagonal array of white spheres representing a crystalline gold surface. Each molecule has a six-membered ring sticking out of it that is aligned with the rings of other molecules in its row and askew compared to the molecules in the next row, creating a herringbone-like pattern.<\/p>\n
The phenyl rings (green) sticking out of molecules of phenyl-functionalized trioxatriangulenium can align with a metal surface (white balls) in a herringbone-like pattern.<\/p>\n
Credit:
\n ACS Nano<\/p>\n
\n In a scanning tunneling microscope image, six pairs of green dots are organized in the shape of a hexagon. Each pair is rotated sixty degrees compared to the pair next to it, creating a pinwheel like appearance among all the dots.<\/p>\n
Under certain conditions, single molecules of phenyl-functionalized trioxatriangulenium appear as two dots, reflecting how the phenyl rings on molecules align themselves on the surface.<\/p>\n
Credit:
\n Courtesy of Behzad Mortezapour and Richard Berndt<\/p>\n
Credit: Behzad Mortezapour and Richard Berndt. Read the paper about this research in <\/a>ACS Nano<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n Do science. Take pictures. Win money. Enter our photo contest.<\/a><\/p>\n
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