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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Isotopic Effect in Double Proton Transfer Process of Porphycene Investigated by Enhanced QM/MM Method
Published on: July 19, 2019
Dimerization boosts one-dimensional mobility of conformationally adapted porphyrins on a hexagonal surface atomic
M Eichberger1, M Marschall, J Reichert
1Department of Physics, AMPEL, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract:
We employed temperature-controlled fast-scanning tunneling microscopy to monitor the diffusion of tetrapyridylporphyrin molecules on the Cu(111) surface. The data reveal unidirectional thermal migration of conformationally adapted monomers in the 300-360 K temperature range. Surprisingly equally oriented molecules spontaneously form dimers that feature a drastically increased one-dimensional diffusivity. The analysis of the bonding and mobility characteristics indicates that this boost is driven by a collective transport mechanism of a metallosupramolecular complex.
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