Functional materials of self-assembled compounds

Contains fulltext : 74876.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The research described in the thesis entitled “Functional materials of self-assembled compounds” has been carried out at the interface of physics and chemistry, with the aim to explore new scientific opportunities and develop new applications. The research mainly focuses on porphyrins, chromophoric compounds which are highly similar to the red colorants (hemoglobin) in our blood. By cleverly linking three of those porphyrins together, a trimer is formed. Under the right conditions these trimers spontaneously form highly defined line patterns composed of single molecule thick columnar stacks, by a combination of dewetting forces and molecular self-assembly. The patterns, which can grow up to sizes of several square millimeters, have been successfully applied as alignment layers for liquid crystal molecules in a liquid crystal display (LCD). In another part of the research, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) has been used to study porphyrin-based catalysts while they are involved in a chemical reaction. With this microscope, individual reacting molecules can be monitored at the highest detail possible at a surface, and in this way unprecedented information about reaction mechanisms can be obtained. In this case it was revealed that the porphyrin catalysts are very eco-friendly: an atom-efficiency of 100 percent was observed and no waste-products were formed.RU Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 25 februari 2010248 p