Halogen bonding-guided growth of heteroatom-rich polycarbazole wires on Au(111).

The growth of conjugated polymers has been widely investigated on metal surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum. Here, we report that pre-organized halogen-bonded templates, based on a selecting bent molecular geometry, enable the on-surface synthesis of long, defect-free polycarbazole wires, laterally decorated with nitrogen-bound substituents as revealed by scanning tunnelling microscopy.