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Hydrophilicity and Microsolvation of an Organic Molecule Resolved on the Sub‐molecular Level by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
Author(s) -
Lucht Karsten,
Loose Dirk,
Ruschmeier Maximilian,
Strotkötter Valerie,
Dyker Gerald,
Morgenstern Karina
Publication year - 2018
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.201711062
Subject(s) - molecule , scanning tunneling microscope , solvation , solvation shell , chemistry , adsorption , chemical physics , density functional theory , nanotechnology , materials science , computational chemistry , organic chemistry
Low‐temperature scanning tunneling microscopy was used to follow the formation of a solvation shell around an adsorbed functionalized azo dye from the attachment of the first water molecule to a fully solvated molecule. Specific functional groups bind initially one water molecule each, which act as anchor points for additional water molecules. Further water attachment occurs in areas close to these functional groups even when the functional groups themselves are already saturated. In contrast, water molecules surround the hydrophobic parts of the molecule only when the two‐dimensional solvation shell closes around them. This study thus traces hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of an organic molecule down to a sub‐molecular length scale.