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On-surface activation of benzylic C-H bonds for the synthesis of pentagon-fused graphene nanoribbons

Nano Research volume 14, pages 4754–4759 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) have potential for applications in electronic devices. A key issue, thereby, is the fine-tuning of their electronic characteristics, which can be achieved through subtle structural modifications. These are not limited to the conventional armchair, zigzag, and cove edges, but also possible through incorporation of non-hexagonal rings. On-surface synthesis enables the fabrication and visualization of GNRs with atomically precise chemical structures, but strategies for the incorporation of non-hexagonal rings have been underexplored. Herein, we describe the on-surface synthesis of armchair-edged GNRs with incorporated five-membered rings through the C-H activation and cyclization of benzylic methyl groups. Ortho-Tolyl-substituted dibromobianthryl was employed as the precursor monomer, and visualization of the resulting structures after annealing at 300 °C on a gold surface by high-resolution noncontact atomic force microscopy clearly revealed the formation of methylene-bridged pentagons at the GNR edges. These persisted after annealing at 340 °C, along with a few fully conjugated pentagons having singly-hydrogenated apexes. The benzylic methyl groups could also migrate or cleave-off, resulting in defects lacking the five-membered rings. Moreover, unexpected and unique structural rearrangements, including the formation of embedded heptagons, were observed. Despite the coexistence of different reaction pathways that hamper selective synthesis of a uniform structure, our results provide novel insights into on-surface reactions en route to functional, non-benzenoid carbon nanomaterials.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support by the Max Planck Society, the Swiss National Science Foundation under Grant No. 200020_182015, the NCCR MARVEL funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (No. 51NF40-182892), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 785219 (Graphene Flagship Core 2), the Office of Naval Research (No. N00014-18-1-2708), and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST). The Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) under project ID s904 is acknowledged for computational resources. Skillful technical assistance by Lukas Rotach is gratefully acknowledged.

Funding

Funding note Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

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Author notes

  1. Marco Di Giovannantonio

    Present address: Istituto di Struttura della Materia-CNR (ISM-CNR), via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133, Roma, Italy

  2. José I. Urgel

    Present address: IMDEA Nanoscience, C/Faraday 9, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain

  3. Xiushang Xu and Marco Di Giovannantonio contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, 55128, Mainz, Germany

    Xiushang Xu, Klaus Müllen & Akimitsu Narita

  2. Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, nanotech@surfaces Laboratory, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Marco Di Giovannantonio, José I. Urgel, Carlo A. Pignedoli, Pascal Ruffieux & Roman Fasel

  3. Organic and Carbon Nanomaterials Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Kunigami-gun, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan

    Xiushang Xu & Akimitsu Narita

  4. Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Duesbergweg 10-14, 55128, Mainz, Germany

    Klaus Müllen

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  1. Xiushang Xu
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Xu, X., Di Giovannantonio, M., Urgel, J.I. et al. On-surface activation of benzylic C-H bonds for the synthesis of pentagon-fused graphene nanoribbons. Nano Res. 14, 4754–4759 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3419-2

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Keywords

  • graphene nanoribbons
  • on-surface synthesis
  • scanning-tunneling microscope
  • noncontact atomic force microscope
  • C-H activation