Fluorous Property of a Short Perfluoroalkyl-Containing Compound Realized by Self-Assembled Monolayer Technique on a Silicon Substrate

Fluorous properties represented by water-and-oil repellency are perfluoroalkyl (Rf) compound-specific characteristics, which are widely used for surface coating of glass, electronic devices and textiles for preventing water and grease fouling. According to the stratified dipole-arrays (SDA) theory, the minimum Rf length of (CF2)7 is theoretically necessary for realizing fluorous properties. Unfortunately, however, production of compounds involving this chemical unit is strictly banned because of concerns of environmental pollution, which is a big dilemma. Here, we show that the fluorous properties can be realized by self-assembled monolayer (SAM) even with a short Rf-containing compound, since the SAM technique makes the best use of the self-aggregation property of the Rf groups, and it readily makes the molecules immobile.