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Research Article

Frustrated Ostwald Ripening in Self-Assembled Monolayers of Cruciform π-Systems

Supporting Info

Gina M. Florio, Jennifer E. Klare,^†^§ Michelle O. Pasamba,^†^§ Tova L. Werblowsky,^†^§ Michelle Hyers,^†^§ Bruce J. Berne,^† Mark S. Hybertsen,^‡^§ Colin Nuckolls,*^†^§ and George W. Flynn*^†^§

Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, Department of Applied Physics/Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, NSF Center for Electron Transport in Molecular Nanostructures (NSEC), Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, and Department of Chemistry, St. John's University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, New York 11439

Langmuir, 2006, 22 (24), pp 10003–10008

DOI: 10.1021/la0617199

Publication Date (Web): October 31, 2006

St. John's University.

†

Department of Chemistry, Columbia University.

NSEC.

‡

Department of Applied Physics/Applied Mathematics, Columbia University.

Corresponding authors. (G.F.) Phone (212) 854-4162. Fax (212) 854-8336. E-mail: gwf1@columbia.edu. (C.N.) Phone (212) 854-6289. Fax (212) 932-1289. E-mail: cn37@columbia.edu.

Abstract

This study details a scanning tunneling microscopy investigation into the mechanism of chiral grain growth in highly ordered, self-assembled monolayer films composed of cruciform π-systems. Although the molecules themselves are achiral, when they adsorb from solution onto graphite, they adopt a gear-like conformation that, by virtue of the surface, is chiral. These handed subunits arrange themselves into enantiomeric two-dimensional domains. The unique finding from this study is that Ostwald ripening is frustrated between domain boundaries that are of opposite chirality because direct interconversion between the chiral units on the surface is energetically inhibited.

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