Molecular self-assembly

AFM image of napthalenetetracarboxylic diimide molecules on silver interacting via hydrogen bonding at 77 K.[1] ("Hydrogen bonds" in the top image are exaggerated by artifacts of the imaging technique.[2][3])
NC-AFM imaging of the molecular self-assembly process of 2-aminoterephthalic acid molecules on calcite(104).[4]
STM image of self-assembled Br4-pyrene molecules on Au(111) surface (top) and its model (bottom; pink spheres are Br atoms).[5]

In chemistry and materials science, molecular self-assembly is the process by which molecules adopt a defined arrangement without guidance or management from an outside source. There are two types of self-assembly: intermolecular and intramolecular. Commonly, the term molecular self-assembly refers to the former, while the latter is more commonly called folding.

  1. ^ Sweetman, A. M.; Jarvis, S. P.; Sang, Hongqian; Lekkas, I.; Rahe, P.; Wang, Yu; Wang, Jianbo; Champness, N.R.; Kantorovich, L.; Moriarty, P. (2014). "Mapping the force field of a hydrogen-bonded assembly". Nature Communications. 5: 3931. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.3931S. doi:10.1038/ncomms4931. PMC 4050271. PMID 24875276.
  2. ^ Hapala, Prokop; Kichin, Georgy; Wagner, Christian; Tautz, F. Stefan; Temirov, Ruslan; Jelínek, Pavel (2014-08-19). "Mechanism of high-resolution STM/AFM imaging with functionalized tips". Physical Review B. 90 (8): 085421. arXiv:1406.3562. Bibcode:2014PhRvB..90h5421H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.90.085421. S2CID 53610973.
  3. ^ Hämäläinen, Sampsa K.; van der Heijden, Nadine; van der Lit, Joost; den Hartog, Stephan; Liljeroth, Peter; Swart, Ingmar (2014-10-31). "Intermolecular Contrast in Atomic Force Microscopy Images without Intermolecular Bonds". Physical Review Letters. 113 (18): 186102. arXiv:1410.1933. Bibcode:2014PhRvL.113r6102H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.186102. PMID 25396382. S2CID 8309018.
  4. ^ Kling, Felix (2016). Diffusion and structure formation of molecules on calcite(104) (PhD). Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. doi:10.25358/openscience-2179.
  5. ^ Pham, Tuan Anh; Song, Fei; Nguyen, Manh-Thuong; Stöhr, Meike (2014). "Self-assembly of pyrene derivatives on Au(111): Substituent effects on intermolecular interactions". Chem. Commun. 50 (91): 14089–14092. doi:10.1039/C4CC02753A. PMID 24905327.