Molecular Self-Assembly: Highlights

The tiling of surfaces has long attracted the attention of scientists, not only because it is intriguing intrinsically, but also as a way to control the properties of surfaces. However, although random tiling networks are studied increasingly, their degree of randomness has remained notoriously difficult to control, in common with other supramolecular systems. This research shows that the random organisation of a two-dimensional supramolecular array of tetracarboxylic acid molecules varies with subtle chemical changes in the system.

Solvent-induced aggregates of nanoring cyclic polymers may be transferred by electrospray deposition to a surface where they adsorb as three-dimensional columnar stacks. The observed stack height varies from single rings to four stacked rings, as measured using scanning tunneling microscopy. The flexibility of the nanorings results in distortions from a circular shape, and a comparison with Monte Carlo simulations shows that the bending stiffness increases linearly with the stack height.