Interfacial nanostructures and acidichromism behaviors in self-assembled terpyridine derivatives Langmuir-Blodgett films

Abstract Metal-ligand coordination is one of the most important interactions in supramolecular assembly. Terpyridine compounds demonstrate strong metal coordination ability and can coordinate with many transition metal ions to form complexes with unique optical and electrochemical properties. In this work, new self-assembled Langmuir films of three synthesized terpyridine derivatives with different spacers were prepared by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. The interfacial phase behaviors and coordination with K 2 PtCl 4 and ZnCl 2 subphases in the obtained LB films were studied. The spreading films from different subphases were transferred to corresponding solid substrates and their nanostructures and self-assembly features were characterized. The good acidichromism properties of the prepared LB films from present terpyridine derivatives were investigated by using UV–vis and FT-IR spectroscopy. The obtained results showed new clues for preparation of functional coordination polymers films and potential applications in molecular switches and biosensors fields.