Inducing All Steps of a Chemical Reaction with the Scanning Tunneling Microscope Tip: Towards Single Molecule Engineering

Saw-Wai Hla; Ludwig Bartels; Gerhard Meyer; Karl-Heinz Rieder

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2777

Inducing All Steps of a Chemical Reaction with the Scanning Tunneling Microscope Tip: Towards Single Molecule Engineering

Saw-Wai Hla, Ludwig Bartels, Gerhard Meyer, and Karl-Heinz Rieder

Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2777 – Published 25 September 2000

Abstract

All elementary steps of a chemical reaction have been successfully induced on individual molecules with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in a controlled step-by-step manner utilizing a variety of manipulation techniques. The reaction steps involve the separation of iodine from iodobenzene by using tunneling electrons, bringing together two resultant phenyls mechanically by lateral manipulation and, finally, their chemical association to form a biphenyl molecule mediated by excitation with tunneling electrons. The procedures presented here constitute an important step towards the assembly of individual molecules out of simple building blocks in situ on the atomic scale.

Received 25 April 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2777

Authors & Affiliations

Saw-Wai Hla^1,2,*, Ludwig Bartels^1,†, Gerhard Meyer¹, and Karl-Heinz Rieder¹

¹Institut für Experimentalphysik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
²Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, D-10117 Berlin, Germany

^*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email address: saw.wai.hla@physik.fu-berlin.de
^†Present address: Columbia Radiation Laboratory, Columbia University, MC8903, 540 W120th Street, New York, NY 10027.