Figure 3: Effects of molecular structure on crystal packing and rotational switching.
From: Correlated rotational switching in two-dimensional self-assembled molecular rotor arrays
(a) The intermediate formed by reacting 1-bromo-3-fluorobenzene with the Cu(111) surface lacks an ethyl rotor and exhibits no switching events. (b) Minority rotor crystal structure with a different packing arrangement displays only short-range correlated (i, i+1) switching. (c) Removal of the fluorine atom (1-bromo-4-ethylbenzene precursor) produces another crystal structure in which (i, i−1)-correlated switching is observed. Scale bars for the top and bottom three panels, 2 nm and 0.5 nm, respectively.
