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Surface‐Induced Selection During In Situ Photoswitching at the Solid/Liquid Interface
Author(s) -
Bonacchi Sara,
El Garah Mohamed,
Ciesielski Artur,
Herder Martin,
Conti Simone,
Cecchini Marco,
Hecht Stefan,
Samorì Paolo
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201412215
Subject(s) - photoswitch , physisorption , diarylethene , in situ , scanning tunneling microscope , photochemistry , chemistry , surface (topology) , graphite , chemical physics , irradiation , materials science , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , photochromism , catalysis , organic chemistry , geometry , mathematics , engineering , physics , nuclear physics
Here we report for the first time a submolecularly resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study at the solid/liquid interface of the in situ reversible interconversion between two isomers of a diarylethene photoswitch, that is, open and closed form, self‐assembled on a graphite surface. Prolonged irradiation with UV light led to the in situ irreversible formation of another isomer as by‐product of the reaction, which due to its preferential physisorption accumulates at the surface. By making use of a simple yet powerful thermodynamic model we provide a quantitative description for the observed surface‐induced selection of one isomeric form.