Tetrathiafulvalene-supported triple-decker phthalocyaninato dysprosium(III) complex: Synthesis, properties and surface assembly

Abstract

Self-assembly of functional compounds into a prerequisite nanostructure with desirable dimension and morphology by controlling and optimizing intermolecular interaction attracts an extensive research interest for chemists and material scientist. In this work, a new triple-decker sandwich-type lanthanide complex with phthalocyanine and redox-active Schiff base ligand including tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) units has been synthesized, and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, absorption spectra, electrochemical and magnetic measurements. Interestingly, the non-centrosymmetric target complex displays a bias dependent selective adsorption on a solid surface, as observed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at the single molecule level. Density function theory (DFT) calculations are utilized to reveal the formation mechanism of the molecular assemblies, and show that such electrical field dependent selective adsorption is regulated by the interaction between the external electric field and intrinsic molecular properties. Our results suggest that this type of multi-decker complex involving TTF units shows intriguing multifunctional properties from the viewpoint of structure, electric and magnetic behaviors, and fabrication through self-assembly.