Cooperating dipole-dipole and van der Waals interactions driven 2D self-assembly of fluorenone derivatives: ester chain length effect

Two-dimensional supramolecular assemblies of a series of 2,7-bis(10-n-alkoxycarbonyl-decyloxy)-9fluorenone derivatives (BAF-Cn, n = 1, 3-6) consisting of polar fluorenone moieties and ester alkoxy chains were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite surfaces. The chain-length effect was observed in the self-assembly of BAF-Cn. Self-assembly of BAF-C1 was composed of a linear I pattern, where the side chains adopted a fully interdigitated arrangement. As the length of side chains increased, the coexistence of a linear I pattern and a cyclic pattern for the self-assembly of BAF-C3 was observed. Upon increasing the length of the alkoxy chain even further (n = 4-6), another linear II structure was observed in the BAF-Cn monolayer, in which the side chains in adjacent rows were arranged in a tail-to-tail configuration. It is reasonable to conclude that not only the van der Waals forces but also the dipole-dipole interactions from both the fluorenone cores and the ester alkoxy chains play critical roles in the self-assemblies of BAF-Cn. Our work provides detailed insights into the effect of intermolecular dipole-dipole and van der Waals interactions on the monolayer morphology of fluorenone derivatives.