Identifying individual chemical bonds in single-molecule chemical reaction products using nc-AFM

ORAL

Abstract

Determining reaction pathways and products is an integral part of chemical synthesis. Ensemble measurements are commonly used, but identifying products of complex reactions at surfaces presents a significant challenge. Here we present a non-contact AFM (nc-AFM) study to directly address this issue[1]. We followed the change of the chemical structures, from reactants to products of enediyne cyclization reactions on metal surfaces. Thermal annealing of enediynes induced a series of cyclization cascades leading to radical species and the formation of dimers. Atomically resolved nc-AFM images reveal the precise chemical structure and the formation of chemical bonds between single molecular units. With the support of DFT calculations, we identified the underlying chemical pathways and barriers, demonstrating the potential of this atomically resolved AFM technique to study unknown reaction products in surface chemistry at the single-molecule level. [1] D. G. de Oteyza et al., Science 340, 1434 (2013)

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Authors

  • Sebastian Wickenburg

    • UC Berkeley, Physics; LBNL
    • UC Berkeley physics/ LBNL

  • Dimas Oteyza

    • CSIC/UPV-EHU, San Sebastian
    • CSIC/UPV-EHUMaterials, San Sebastian

  • Yen-Chia Chen

    • UC Berkeley, Physics; LBNL
    • UC Berkeley physics/ LBNL

  • Alexander Riss

    • UC Berkeley, Physics
    • UC Berkeley physics

  • Hsin-Zon Tsai

    • UC Berkeley, Physics
    • UC Berkeley physics

  • Zahra Pedramrazi

    • UC Berkeley, Physics

  • Aaron Bradley

    • UC Berkeley, Physics
    • UC Berkeley physics

  • Miguel Ugeda

    • UC Berkeley, Physics; LBNL
    • UC Berkeley, Dept of Phsyics; JCAP, LBNL
    • UC Berkeley physics

  • Patrick Gorman

    • UC Berkeley, Chemistry
    • UC Berkeley chemistry

  • Grisha Etkin

    • UC Berkeley, Chemistry
    • UC Berkeley chemistry

  • Duncan J. Mowbray

    • NanoBio and ETSF, UPV/EHU, San Sebastian

  • Alejandro Perez

    • NanoBio and ETSF, UPV/EHU, San Sebastian

  • Angel Rubio

    • NanoBio and ETSF, UPV/EHU, San Sebastian
    • Universidad del Pais Vasco

  • Michael Crommie

    • UC Berkeley, Physics; LBNL
    • UC Berkeley, Dept of Physics; Materials Science Division, LBNL
    • UC Berkeley physics/ LBNL MSD
    • Univ of California - Berkeley
    • University of California, Berkeley
    • UC Berkeley Physics Dept. and LBL Materials Sciences Division
    • University of Carlifornia at Berkeley

  • Felix Fischer

    • UC Berkeley, Chemistry; LBNL
    • UC Berkeley chemistry/ LBNL MSD