Self-Assemblies of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives with Different Symmetry: Adjusting by Solvent and Guest Molecules

• Published in: Langmuir 2024-09, Vol.40 (36), p.18999-19007
• Main Authors: Wang, Shuai, Lei, Peng, Huang, Zhizhong, He, Luan, Zhang, Siqi, Liu, Qingyu, Deng, Ke, Zeng, Qingdao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0743-7463; 1520-5827; 1520-5827
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c01871

In this research, the self-assembly behaviors of two different symmetry carboxylic acid derivatives (H 3 BTE and H 4 BTE) regulated by solvent and guest molecule (coronene, COR) were explored at the liquid/solid interface by scanning tunneling microscopy, and the formation mechanism was investigated by density functional theory. In 1-phenyloctane, only H 3 BTE molecules dissolved with extremely low concentration and self-assembled into a honeycomb structure and a new strip structure, while H 4 BTE could not. In 1-heptanoic acid, H 3 BTE and H 4 BTE were easily dissolved, in which H 3 BTE formed a regular row structure and H 4 BTE formed a tetragonal structure, respectively. The host–guest interaction was investigated by introducing the COR molecules into their self-assembly structures, and due to the different symmetry, H 3 BTE and H 4 BTE displayed different accommodation behavior.