On-Surface Synthesis of Non-Benzenoid Nanographenes Embedding Azulene and Stone-Wales Topologies

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Kalyan Biswas - , Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia) (Author)
  • Qifan Chen - , Czech Academy of Sciences, Charles University Prague (Author)
  • Sebastian Obermann - , Chair of Molecular Functional Materials (cfaed) (Author)
  • Ji Ma - , Chair of Molecular Functional Materials (cfaed), Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (Author)
  • Diego Soler-Polo - , Czech Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Jason Melidonie - , Chair of Molecular Functional Materials (cfaed) (Author)
  • Ana Barragán - , Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia) (Author)
  • Ana Sánchez-Grande - , Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia) (Author)
  • Koen Lauwaet - , Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia) (Author)
  • José M. Gallego - , Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (Author)
  • Rodolfo Miranda - , Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Author)
  • David Écija - , Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (Author)
  • Pavel Jelínek - , Czech Academy of Sciences, Palacký University Olomouc (Author)
  • Xinliang Feng - , Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed), Chair of Molecular Functional Materials (cfaed), Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (Author)
  • José I. Urgel - , Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (Author)

Abstract

The incorporation of non-benzenoid motifs in graphene nanostructures significantly impacts their properties, making them attractive for applications in carbon-based electronics. However, understanding how specific non-benzenoid structures influence their properties remains limited, and further investigations are needed to fully comprehend their implications. Here, we report an on-surface synthetic strategy toward fabricating non-benzenoid nanographenes containing different combinations of pentagonal and heptagonal rings. Their structure and electronic properties were investigated via scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, complemented by computational investigations. After thermal activation of the precursor P on the Au(111) surface, we detected two major nanographene products. Nanographene Aa−a embeds two azulene units formed through oxidative ring-closure of methyl substituents, while Aa−s contains one azulene unit and one Stone-Wales defect, formed by the combination of oxidative ring-closure and skeletal ring-rearrangement reactions. Aa−a exhibits an antiferromagnetic ground state with the highest magnetic exchange coupling reported up to date for a non-benzenoid containing nanographene, coexisting with side-products with closed shell configurations resulted from the combination of ring-closure and ring-rearragement reactions (Ba−a, Ba−s, Bs-a and Bs−s). Our results provide insights into the single gold atom assisted synthesis of novel NGs containing non-benzenoid motifs and their tailored electronic/magnetic properties.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere202318185
Number of pages9
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume63
Issue number13
Early online date1 Feb 2024
Publication statusPublished - 22 Mar 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 38299925

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Azulene and Stone-Wales defects, Nanographenes, Open-shell species, Oxidative ring-closure, Scanning tunnelling microscopy