Ishii Ayumu, Shiotari Akitoshi, Sugimoto Yoshiaki
Department of Advanced Materials Science, The University of Tokyo 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha 277-8561 Kashiwa Japan +81 4 7536 4058 +81 4 7536 3997.
Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max-Planck Society Faradayweg 4-6 14195 Berlin Germany
Chem Sci. 2021 Sep 14;12(40):13301-13306. doi: 10.1039/d1sc03976h. eCollection 2021 Oct 20.
Helicene is a functional material with chirality caused by its characteristic helical geometry. The inversion of its helicity by external stimuli is a challenging task in the advanced control of the molecular chirality. This study fabricated a novel helical molecule, specifically a pentahelicene-analogue twisted aromatic hydrocarbon fused with a graphene nanoribbon, on-surface synthesis using multiple precursors. Noncontact atomic force microscopy imaging with high spatial resolution confirmed the helicity of the reaction products. The helicity was geometrically converted by pushing a CO-terminated tip into the twisted framework, which is the first demonstration of helicity switching at the single-molecule scale.
螺旋烯是一种因其独特的螺旋几何结构而具有手性的功能材料。通过外部刺激使其螺旋性发生反转，是分子手性高级控制中的一项具有挑战性的任务。本研究利用多种前驱体通过表面合成制备了一种新型螺旋分子，具体为一种与石墨烯纳米带融合的五螺旋烯类似物扭曲芳烃。具有高空间分辨率的非接触式原子力显微镜成像证实了反应产物的螺旋性。通过将CO端接的探针推入微扭曲框架，螺旋性发生了几何转换，这是单分子尺度下螺旋性切换的首次证明。
