Self-assembly of hydrogen-bonded two-dimensional quasicrystals

The process of molecular self-assembly on solid surfaces is essentially one of crystallization in two dimensions, and the structures that result depend on the interplay between intermolecular forces and the interaction between adsorbates and the underlying substrate. Because a single hydrogen bond typically has an energy between 15 and 35 kilojoules per mole, hydrogen bonding can be a strong driver of molecular assembly; this is apparent from the dominant role of hydrogen bonding in nucleic-acid base pairing, as well as in the secondary structure of proteins. Carboxylic acid functional groups, which provide two hydrogen bonds, are particularly promising and reliable in creating and maintaining surface order, and self-assembled monolayers of benzoic acids produce structure that depends on the number and relative placement of carboxylic acid groups. Here we use scanning tunnelling microscopy to study self-assembled monolayers of ferrocenecarboxylic acid (FcCOOH), and find that, rather than producing dimeric or linear structures typical of carboxylic acids, FcCOOH forms highly unusual cyclic hydrogen-bonded pentamers, which combine with simultaneously formed FcCOOH dimers to form two-dimensional quasicrystallites that exhibit local five-fold symmetry and maintain translational and rotational order (without periodicity) for distances of more than 400 ångströms.