Spin‐State Patterns in Surface‐Grafted Beads of Iron(II) Complexes

Strung out: FeII complexes containing pairs of planar terdentate N ligands form regular one-dimensional aggregates on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite, on a length scale of hundreds of nanometers. STM spectroscopy was used to probe the molecular conductance and thus the spin state. The distribution of spin states is random in the single-molecule chain, but local cooperativity sets in when the chain is made up of oligonuclear “beads” (see picture).