Single Molecule Manipulation of Co-Salophene-Br$_2$

Using Low Temperature Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (LT-STM) manipulation we studied the system of individual Co-Salophene-Br$_2$ molecules adsorbed on a Au(111) surface. Co-Salophene-Br$_2$ has a metallic ion caged on three sides, and two of three $\pi$-rings have bromine termination. This molecule adsorbs onto Au(111) in a planar orientation and forms ordered molecular clusters. With the STM tip single molecules were pulled out from molecular clusters and then the bromine atoms were individually dissociated to form Co-Salophene molecules having two, one, or zero attached bromine atoms. The bond dissociation was selectively done by locally injecting tunneling electrons. In conjunction with our manipulation studies Kondo resonances of the intact and de-brominated molecules were probed by means of local tunneling spectroscopy and spectroscopic mapping. This work is a step towards the engineering of molecular systems on a surface from basic molecular units.