Surface Trapping and STM Observation of Conformational Isomers of a Bis(Terpyridine) Ligand from Metallosupramolecular Grids

Tetranuclear Co-grid complexes incorporating bis-tridentate ligands, namely 4,6-bis(2,2′-bipyrid-6-yl)-2-phenylpyrimidine, were electrosprayed onto a Au(111) substrate under an ultrahigh vacuum. Fragmentation occurs leaving the ligands in four different conformations. Most ligands are found to form H-bonded dimers. The most abundant conformer of the ligand on the Au surface is an asymmetric form, which has not been observed before. The present results indicate that the fragmentation of coordination compounds during the deposition process, in principle, allows for surface trapping, identification, and investigation of high energy, out-of-equilibrium conformations of the ligand molecules at low temperatures, which otherwise would not be observable.