J. Am. Chem. Soc.: Surface-Assisted Alkane Polymerization: Investigation on Structure-Reactivity Relationship

Date:2018-02-15Keywords:Alkane polymerizationView:1627

Title:

Surface-Assisted Alkane Polymerization: Investigation on Structure-Reactivity Relationship

Authors:

Kewei Sun1,   Aixi Chen1, Meizhuang liu2, Haiming Zhang1,*, Ruomeng Duan3, Penghui Ji1, Ling Li1, Qing   Li1, Chen Li3,4, Dingyong Zhong2, Klaus   Müllen4,5 and Lifeng Chi1,*

Institutions:

1Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials(FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou   215123, P. R. China

2School of Physics & State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Sun Yat-sen University, 510275 Guangzhou, P. R.   China  

3School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China

4Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, D-55128 Mainz, Germany

5Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Duesbergweg 10-14, D-55128 Mainz

Abstract:

Surface-assisted polymerization of alkanes is a remarkable reaction for which the surface-reconstruction of Au(110) is crucial. The surface of (1×2)-Au(110) precovered with molecules can be completely transformed into (1×3)-Au(110) by introducing branched methylidene groups on both sides of the aliphatic chain (18, 19-dimethylidene-hexatriacontane) or locally shifted into (1×3)-Au(110) under exposure to low energy electrons (beam energy from 3.5 eV to 33.6 eV, for alkane dotriacontane). Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) investigations demonstrate that alkane chains adsorbed on (1×3)-Au(110) are more reactive than on (1×2)-Au(110), presenting a solid experimental proof for structure-reactivity relationships. This difference can be ascribed to the existence of an extra row of gold atoms in the groove of (1×3)-Au(110), providing active sites of Au atoms with lower coordination number. The experimental results are further confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) simulations.

IF:

13.858

Link:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.7b09097