Crystalline-to-rotator phase transitions have been widely studied in bulk hydrocarbons, in particular in normal alkanes. But few studies of these transitions deal with molecularly thin films of pure n-alkanes on solid substrates. In this work, we were able to grow dotriacontane ͑n-C 32 H 66 ͒ films without coexisting bulk particles, which allows us to isolate the contribution to the ellipsometric signal from a monolayer of molecules oriented with their long axis perpendicular to the SiO 2 surface. For these submonolayer films, we found a step in the ellipsometer signal at ϳ331 K, which we identify with a solid-solid phase transition. At higher coverages, we observed additional steps in the ellipsometric signal that we identify with a solid-solid phase transition in multilayer islands ͑ϳ333 K͒ and with the transition to the rotator phase in bulk crystallites ͑ϳ337 K͒, respectively. After considering three alternative explanations, we propose that the step upward in the ellipsometric signal observed at ϳ331 K on heating the submonolayer film is the signature of a transition from a perpendicular monolayer phase to a denser phase in which the alkane chains contain on average one to two gauche defects per molecule.

We have used synchrotron X-ray reflectivity measurements to investigate the structure of n-dotriacontane (n-C(32)H(66) or C32) films deposited from the vapor phase onto a SiO(2)-coated Si(100) surface. Our primary motivation was to determine whether the structure and growth mode of these films differ from those deposited from solution on the same substrate. The vapor-deposited films had a thickness of approximately 50 A thick as monitored in situ by high-resolution ellipsometry and were stable in air. Similar to the case of solution-deposited C32 films, we find that film growth in vacuum begins with a nearly complete bilayer adjacent to the SiO(2) surface formed by C32 molecules aligned with their long axis parallel to the interface followed by one or more partial layers of perpendicular molecules. These molecular layers coexist with bulk particles at higher coverages. Furthermore, after thermally cycling our vapor-deposited samples at atmospheric pressure above the bulk C32 melting point, we find the structure of our films as a function of temperature to be consistent with a phase diagram inferred previously for similarly treated solution-deposited films. Our results resolve some of the discrepancies that Basu and Satija (Basu, S.; Satija, S. K. Langmuir 2007, 23, 8331) found between the structure of vapor-deposited and solution-deposited films of intermediate-length alkanes at room temperature.

Molecular-dynamics simulations are used to investigate lateral friction in contactmode atomic force microscopy of tetracosane (n-C24H50) films. We find larger friction coefficients on the surface of monolayer and bilayer films in which the long axis of the molecules is parallel to the interface than on a surface of molecules with the long axis perpendicular to the surface, in agreement with experimental results. A major dissipation mechanism is the molecular flexibility as manifested in the torsional motion about the molecules' C-C bonds. The generation of gauche defects as a result of this motion does not appear to be in itself a major channel of energy dissipation. As previously reported in the literature, the layer density and thereby the strength of the attractive film-tip interaction is also an important factor in energy dissipation.