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Theoretical Modeling of the Surface‐Guided Self‐Assembly of Functional Molecules
Author(s) -
Nieckarz Damian,
Szabelski Paweł
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201901105
Subject(s) - enantiopure drug , self assembly , template , materials science , molecule , monte carlo method , nanotechnology , chirality (physics) , honeycomb , chemical physics , lattice (music) , chemistry , physics , enantioselective synthesis , organic chemistry , chiral symmetry , composite material , statistics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , quark , acoustics , nambu–jona lasinio model , catalysis
Abstract Directing the self‐assembly of organic building blocks with 2D templates has been a promising method to create molecular superstructures having unique physicochemical properties. In this work the on‐surface self‐assembly of simple ditopic functional molecules confined inside periodic nanotemplates was modeled by means of the lattice Monte Carlo simulation method. Two types of confinement, that is honeycomb porous networks and parallel grooves of controlled diameter and width were used in the calculations. Additionally, the effect of (pro)chirality of the adsorbing molecules on the outcome of the templated self‐assembly was examined. To that end, enantiopure and racemic assemblies were studied and the resulting structures were identified and classified. The obtained findings demonstrated that suitable tuning of the structural parameters of the templates enables directing the self‐assembly towards linear and cyclic aggregates with controlled size. Moreover, chiral resolution of the molecular conformers using honeycomb networks with adjusted pore size was found possible. Our theoretical predictions can be helpful in designing structured surfaces to direct self‐assembly and polymerization of organic functional building blocks.