Quinone-Facilitated Coordinated Bipyrene and Polypyrene on Au(111) by Capture of Gold Adatoms

Precise “bottom-up” synthesis by surface-assisted chemical reaction provides advanced approaches for the fabrication of two-dimensional (2D) robust covalent nanostructures, which are bound to contain defects due to the irreversible properties of covalent bonds. The further introduction of metal–organic coordination interactions possessing self-correction abilities and yielding comparable stabilities would be a strategically advanced supplement for the construction of well-ordered complex covalent networks. In this report, the on-surface synthesis of Au-coordinated bipyrenes and polypyrenes is achieved on Au(111) by a combination of triggering surface-assisted dehalogenative coupling and capture of Au adatoms. The resulting nanostructures are characterized using a scanning tunneling microscope and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis and further verified by density functional theory calculations. Quinone group functionality present in the pyrene precursor molecules is the key by which the formation of O–Au–O coordination bonds is facilitated, in turn forcing the expulsion of bromine atoms from the thus formed 2D nanostructures.