S-Shaped Conformation of the Quaterthiophene Molecular Backbone in Two-Dimensional Bisterpyridine-Derivative Self-Assembled Nanoarchitecture

The conformation and the two-dimensional self-assembly of 4'-(3',4″-dihexyloxy-5,2':5',2″:5″,2‴-quaterthien-2,5‴-diyl)-bis(2,2':6',2″-terpyridine) molecules are theoretically and experimentally investigated. This molecular building block forms a hydrogen-bonded chiral supramolecular nanoarchitecture on graphite at the solid/liquid interface. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) shows that the molecule adopts an S-shaped conformation in this structure. DFTB+ calculations reveal that this conformation is not the lowest-energy conformation. The molecular nanoarchitecture appears to be stabilized by hydrogen bonding as well as van der Waals interactions. I-, L-, and D-shaped molecular conformations are, however, locally observed at the domain boundary, but these conformations do not self-assemble into organized 2D structures.