Homochiral to heterochiral transition in a pentahelicene monolayer on Bi(111)

We report the nucleation and two dimensional (2D) crystallization of the helical aromatic hydrocarbon pentahelicene ([5]H) on the semimetallic Bi(111) surface studied via low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Individual homochiral dimers and heterochiral trimers appear on the substrate at a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP 2021-11, Vol.23 (42), p.24344-24348
Main Authors: Xia, Jing-Xiang, Li, Zuo, Han, Qing, Wan, Jia-Jie, Shi, Ming-Xia, Tao, Min-Long, Sun, Kai, Wang, Jun-Zhong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aromatic hydrocarbons
Crystallization
Dimers
Low temperature
Nucleation
Phase transitions
Scanning tunneling microscopy
Substrates
Trimers
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Summary:We report the nucleation and two dimensional (2D) crystallization of the helical aromatic hydrocarbon pentahelicene ([5]H) on the semimetallic Bi(111) surface studied via low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Individual homochiral dimers and heterochiral trimers appear on the substrate at a low coverage. With an increase in the coverage, a chiral phase transition takes place from the 2D conglomerate of [5]H dimers to the 2D racemate of [5]H trimers. The heterochiral [5]H trimers reveal a wavy arrangement due to the swing of 5[H] trimer rows after every second or third trimers. The swing mechanism of the trimer rows can be attributed to the steric repulsion between the adjacent trimers with same handedness. Undirectional ordering of the heterochiral trimeres.
ISSN:1463-9076
1463-9084
DOI:10.1039/d1cp04096k