Mechanistic Insights into Surface-Supported Chemical Reactions

Abstract

Its excellent spatial resolution makes scanning probe microscopy a capable method to investigate chemical reactions at the single-molecule level and obtain fascinating and unprecedented insights into the mechanisms of chemical transformations. Particularly exciting are recent advances in atomic force microscopy that allow bond-resolved imaging and thus make the chemical identification of organic molecular reaction intermediates and products possible. In this chapter we will give an overview about recent fundamental research on reaction mechanisms and kinetics of surface-supported reactions by scanning probe microscopy. Particular emphasis will be placed on the stabilization and statistical analysis of intermediates, which provides fundamental understanding of the microscopic driving forces of complex chemical transformations of organic molecules.