Self-Assembly of Structurally Rigid Diamondoid Esters on a HOPG Surface

Crosbi ID932837
Year2026
StatusObjavljeno
Typeprilog u časopisu
Subtypeizvorni znanstveni rad
AuthorsBurić, Nataša; Ayani, Cosme González; Vuletić, Tomislav; Sohora, Margareta; Štefanić, Zoran Štefanić; Delač, Ida; Šekutor, Marina
JournalPCCP. Physical chemistry chemical physics
Volume28
Issue14
Pagesstr. 8467-8477
DOI10.1039/d6cp00381h
ISSN1463-9076
EISSN1463-9084
Titles

en original Self-Assembly of Structurally Rigid Diamondoid Esters on a HOPG Surface

Abstracts
en original

Characterizing assemblies of non-aromatic organic molecules on carrier surfaces is still an underexplored field of nanomaterial design. Here we present a study of on-surface selfassembly for diamondoid ester compounds on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface. Using a combination of experimental and computational tools, we have developed an approach to characterize such non-aromatic molecules that also do not possess long alkyl chains in their structures. AFM imaging visualized the formed on-surface domains and by using the semi‐empirical quantum mechanical GFN2‐xTB method we could identify the most stable on-surface orientations of the individual molecules, a non-trivial task for non-aromatic compounds. Our synergistic analysis revealed that intermolecular London dispersion interactions enable molecular chains formation, which then arrange into distinct domains of observable structural periodicity. Our findings not only shed light onto self-assembly behavior of diamondoid esters but also provide a more general approach for characterizing currently less explored non-aromatics on carrier surfaces.

Keywords

en original diamondoids, London dispersion interactions, highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), esters, monolayers, self-assembly

Authors
Institutions
Projects
Disciplines
Citations
Burić, Nataša; Ayani, Cosme González; Vuletić, Tomislav; Sohora, Margareta; Štefanić, Zoran Štefanić; Delač, Ida; Šekutor, Marina
Self-Assembly of Structurally Rigid Diamondoid Esters on a HOPG Surface // PCCP. Physical chemistry chemical physics, 28 (2026), 14; 8467-8477. doi: 10.1039/D6CP00381H
Links
Indexing

Medline Scopus Web of Science Core Collection, Science Citation Index Expanded (WoSCC-SCI-Exp)