J. Am. Chem. Soc.: Benzo-Fused Periacenes or Double Helicenes? Different Cyclodehydrogenation Pathways on Surface and in Solution

Title：

Benzo-Fused Periacenes or Double Helicenes? Different Cyclodehydrogenation Pathways on Surface and in Solution

Authors：

Qigang Zhong,^1,2,‡ Yunbin Hu,^3,4,‡ Kaifeng Niu,¹ Haiming Zhang,¹ Biao Yang,^1,† Daniel Ebeling,² Jalmar Tschakert,² Tao Cheng,¹ André Schirmeisen,² Akimitsu Narita,^3,5* Klaus Müllen,^3,6* and Lifeng Chi^1*

Institutions：1

 ¹Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China

²Institute of Applied Physics, Justus-Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 16, 35392 Giessen, Germany

³Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, 55128 Mainz, Germany

⁴Department of Organic and Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China

⁵Organic and Carbon Nanomaterials Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa

904-0495, Japan

⁶Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Duesbergweg 10-14, 55128 Mainz, Germany

Abstract：

Controlling the regioselectivity of C-H activation in unimolecular reactions is of great significance for the rational synthesis of functional graphene nanostructures, which are called nanographenes. Here, we demonstrate that the adsorption of tetranaphthyl-p-terphenyl precursors on metal surfaces can completely change the cyclodehydrogenation route and lead to obtaining planar benzo-fused perihexacenes rather than double helicenes during solution synthesis. The course of the on-surface planarization reactions is monitored using scanning probe microscopy, which unambiguously reveals the formation of dibenzoperihexacenes and the structures of reaction intermediates. The regioselective planarization can be attributed to the flattened adsorption geometries and the reduced flexibility of the precursors on the surfaces, in addition to the different mechanism of the on-surface cyclodehydrogenation from that of the solution counterpart. We have further achieved the on-surface synthesis of dibenzoperioctacene by employing a tetra-anthryl-p-terphenyl precursor. The energy gaps of the new nanographenes are measured to be approximately 2.1 eV (dibenzoperihexacene) and 1.3 eV (dibenzoperioctacene) on an Au(111) surface. Our findings shed new light on the regioselectivity in cyclodehydrogenation reactions, which will be important for exploring the synthesis of unprecedented nanographenes

IF：

14.357

Link：

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.9b01267