On‐Surface Synthesis of Iron Phthalocyanine Using Metal‐Organic Coordination Templates

Abstract

On-surface synthesis provides a convenient route to many kinds of conjugated molecular nanostructures, but it has remained challenging to precisely control the reaction pathway for using multicomponent precursors. Herein, we demonstrate a two-step strategy to synthesize iron phthalocyanine (FePc) molecules using metal-organic coordination for templating by using highresolution scanning tunnelling microscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy. In a first step, 1,2,4,5-tetracyanoben-zene (TCNB) precursors and Fe atoms self-assembly into Fe (TCNB) 4 coordination complexes on a clean Au(111) surface. The Fe(TCNB) 4 complexes further undergo cyclic tetramerization upon thermal annealing, forming single FePc molecules. We expect that our demonstrated synthetic strategy may shed light on the design and synthesis of two-dimensional extended conjugated systems.

Synthesis and Local Probe Gating of a Monolayer Metal‐Organic Framework

“…More crucially, existing work only demonstrates order on a local scale with very small domain sizes of the MOF. [ 1,26–30 ] The characterization of single layer MOFs in a gated device environment has not been realized yet, since it is even more challenging to fabricate 2D MOFs on a three‐terminal device. However, this could be alternatively achieved by gating the 2D MOFs using local electric fields induced by the tip of a scanning probe microscope.…”

Two-Dimensional Metal–Organic Framework on Superconducting NbSe2

“…2D MOFs have been synthesized on metal surfaces by following the concepts of supramolecular coordination chemistry. , So far, most of the 2D MOFs are made on coinage metal surfaces, − where the interaction with the metal substrate strongly masks the intrinsic electronic properties of the MOF. This can be overcome by using weakly interacting substrates (such as graphene and hBN) that allow probing of the intrinsic exotic electronic properties of 2D MOFs. − However, to realize the exciting prospect of truly designer materials, it is important to demonstrate MOF synthesis on other 2D substrates.…”

Directing On‐Surface Reaction Pathways via Metal‐Organic Cu−N Coordination

“…Recently, non‐covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonds and metal‐organic coordination motifs ( e. g . Fe/Cu−N/O), have been used to guide on‐surface covalent couplings, allowing the controllable reaction pathways to achieve a variety of on‐surface organic structures . In particular, the metal‐organic coordination motifs, due to their specific coordination numbers, configurations and thermal stability, are much helpful to control the reaction pathway and the topology of the resultant structures.…”