Single molecule visualization of coordination-assembled porphyrin macrocycles reinforced with covalent linkings

Coordination-assembled porphyrin macrocycles reinforced with covalent bondings were deposited on a metal surface by a pulse injection method, and their scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images were recorded under ultrahigh vacuum conditions at liquid nitrogen temperature. The decamer ring consisting of 30 porphyrins gave clear circular STM images with hollow structure, whereas that without covalent linking did not give clear circular images, showing that covalent linking of the coordination pairs by ring-closing metathesis reaction was effective to reinforce the supramolecular structure on a metal surface. This strategy will be applicable to a variety of supramolecular assemblies.