LAUSR

Fabrication of diverse self-assembled structures at the liquid/solid interface has been a topic receiving immense attention in 2D crystal engineering. We designed a series of 2-pentadecyloxy-7-alkoxy-9-fluorenone (F–C15Cn) molecules via fixing one chain and prolonging the other chain by five carbon atoms (−C5H10−) and explored their self-assembly behaviors at the 1-octanoic acid/HOPG interface. We successfully obtained six nanostructures for F–C15, F–C15C5, F–C15C10, F–C15C15, and F–C15C20. These assembled configurations were driven by noncovalent forces of dipole–dipole, van der Waals, and hydrogen bonding interactions. Moreover, we performed force field calculation to reveal the involved binding energies. The results showed that the strength of hydrogen bonds were related to the arrangement of hydrogen bonds donor and acceptor: As the alkyl chain in the 7-positon became longer, the van der Waals interactions were accordingly stronger. As a further step of exploring how the alkyl chain length affects the...