Single-Molecule Investigations of Conformation Adaptation of

Mar 1, 2017 - We also demonstrated that the conformation of the surface-adsorbed porphyrin depends on the choice of surface or the peripheral groups. ...
0 downloads 6 Views 2MB Size
Subscriber access provided by University of Newcastle, Australia

Letter

Single-Molecule Investigations of Conformation Adaptation of Porphyrins on Surfaces Qiushi Zhang, Xiaoyan Zheng, Guowen Kuang, Weihua Wang, Lizhe Zhu, Rui Pang, Xingqiang Shi, Xuesong Shang, Xuhui Huang, Pei-Nian Liu, and Nian Lin J. Phys. Chem. Lett., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b00007 • Publication Date (Web): 01 Mar 2017 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on March 2, 2017

Just Accepted “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication. They are posted online prior to technical editing, formatting for publication and author proofing. The American Chemical Society provides “Just Accepted” as a free service to the research community to expedite the dissemination of scientific material as soon as possible after acceptance. “Just Accepted” manuscripts appear in full in PDF format accompanied by an HTML abstract. “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been fully peer reviewed, but should not be considered the official version of record. They are accessible to all readers and citable by the Digital Object Identifier (DOI®). “Just Accepted” is an optional service offered to authors. Therefore, the “Just Accepted” Web site may not include all articles that will be published in the journal. After a manuscript is technically edited and formatted, it will be removed from the “Just Accepted” Web site and published as an ASAP article. Note that technical editing may introduce minor changes to the manuscript text and/or graphics which could affect content, and all legal disclaimers and ethical guidelines that apply to the journal pertain. ACS cannot be held responsible for errors or consequences arising from the use of information contained in these “Just Accepted” manuscripts.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters is published by the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036 Published by American Chemical Society. Copyright © American Chemical Society. However, no copyright claim is made to original U.S. Government works, or works produced by employees of any Commonwealth realm Crown government in the course of their duties.

Page 1 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Single-Molecule Investigations of Conformation Adaptation of Porphyrins on Surfaces Qiushi Zhang†‡, Xiaoyan Zheng‡§, Guowen Kuang†‡, Weihua Wang†, Lizhe Zhu‡§, Rui Pang∥, Xingqiang Shi∥, Xuesong Shang⊥, Xuhui Huang§‡, Pei Nian Liu*⊥, Nian Lin*†‡ †

Department of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China



Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration & Reconstruction, Hong Kong, China

§

Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China ∥Department

⊥Shanghai

of Physics, South University of Science and Technology of China, China

Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry and Institute of Fine Chemicals,

East China University of Science and Technology, Meilong Road 130, Shanghai, China Corresponding Author: *[email protected]

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

1

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 2 of 32

Abstract: The porphyrin macrocyclic core features dynamic conformational transformations in free space because of its structural flexibility. Once attached to a substrate, the moleculesubstrate interaction often restricts this flexibility and stabilizes the porphyrin in a specific conformation. Here, using molecular dynamic and density-functional theory simulations, and scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we investigated the conformation relaxation and stabilization processes of two porphyrin derivatives (5,15-dibromophenyl-10,20diphenylporphyrin, Br2TPP, and 5,15-diphenylporphyrin, DPP) adsorbed on Au(111) and Pb(111) surfaces. We found that Br2TPP adopts either dome or saddle conformations on Au(111), but only the saddle conformation on Pb(111); whereas DPP deforms to a ruffled conformation on Au(111). We also resolved the structural transformation pathway of Br2TPP from the free-space conformations to the surface-anchored conformations. These findings provide unprecedented insights revealing the conformation adaptation process. We anticipate that our results may be useful for controlling the conformation of surface-anchored porphyrin molecules.

KEYWORDS: Porphyrin, Conformation, Density-functional theory, Molecular dynamics, Scanning tunneling microscopy, surface.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

2

Page 3 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Cyclic tetrapyrrole porphyrins play key roles in many important chemical and biological processes,1-4 such as oxygen transport in heme (iron porphyrin), electron transfer and oxidation reactions in photosynthetic chlorophyll (magnesium porphyrin). The structural flexibility of porphyrins allows their macrocyclic core to be distorted into non-planar conformations.5-11 For example, outside a protein microenvironment, the heme macrocycle is nearly planar, while within the microenvironment it can be distorted into non-planar conformations, which is thought to be critical for the functions of porphyrin-containing proteins12. Similarly, non-planarity in synthetic porphyrins has been found to be associated with their redox potential, axial ligand affinity, spin state, excited state lifetimes and rate constants for metallation insertion12. This conformation-function relationship has given rise to the concept of “conformational control”, 1317

that is, the macrocycle conformation is tailored to achieve desired physicochemical properties.

Various methods have been developed to control the conformation of the porphyrin macrocycle, including substituting bulky groups at the peripheral sites to introduce steric repulsion, metallating the macrocycle with metal centers and anchoring axial ligands at metal-porphyrins.12, 18-19

Scheme 1. Non-planar conformations of the macrocylic core of porphyrins identified in this study: (a) saddle (sad), (b) inverted-dome (dom*) and (c) ruffled (ruf). Black and red dots indicate displacements on opposite sides of the mean plane.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

3

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 4 of 32

Recently, surface–anchored porphyrins have been extensively studied in the light of potential applications in single-molecule electronics and magnetism, photovoltaic, sensing and heterogeneous catalysis.20-21 As adsorbed on a surface, the molecule-substrate interaction restricts the structural flexibility, and the macrocycle core often adopts specific conformations, some rarely happen in free space.22-24 In this regard, surface adsorption provides a route to control conformation, and hence functionality, of porphyrins. However, the dynamic pathway of the conformation transformation when porphyrins are adsorbed on surface is largely elusive. In this study, we used complementary theoretical and experimental methods to unravel the dynamic process of conformational change as well as the thermodynamic equilibrium structures of two porphyrin derivatives adsorbed on a Au(111) and a Pb(111) surfaces. In free space, the porphyrin macrocyclic cores exhibit six out-of-plane normal deformations: saddle (sad), dome (dom), ruffled (ruf), waves (wav-x and wav-y), and propeller (pro).

12, 13-17

Each of these conformations corresponds to a lowest-frequency normal mode of a symmetry type. Scheme 1 depicts three of them that were found to be stabilized on the surfaces in our study: the sad features pyrrole rings tilted alternately up and down, the dom or inverted dome (dom*) features four pyrrole rings tilted in the same direction, and the ruf features meso carbons displaced alternately up and down.25 We found that the free-space molecules undergo a multiplestep conformational transformation on the surface before reaching the equilibrium states. We also demonstrated that the conformation of the surface-adsorbed porphyrin depends on the choice of surface or the peripheral groups. The first molecule we studied is 5,15-dibromophenyl-10,20-diphenylporphyrin (Br2TPP). We used DFT to analyze Br2TPP adsorbed on a three-layer Au(111) slab. Initially, we set the molecule in six conformations (planar, dom, dom*, pro, ruf and sad) and relaxed these structures

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

4

Page 5 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

at different adsorption sites and heights on top of the Au(111) slab. The calculations revealed that, except ruf, the rest five conformers could converge to energetically stable configurations. Fig. 1 shows the optimized structures of the five conformers. The adsorbed molecule retains their initial conformational characteristics. Table 1 lists the corresponding adsorption height (the porhyrin macrocycle plane to the top layer Au atoms), adsorption energy and distortion energy. The adsorption energy is defined as ‫ܧ‬௔ௗ௦௢௥௣௧௜௢௡ ൌ ‫ܧ‬஺௨ ൅ ‫ܧ‬௠ െ ‫ܧ‬௧௢௧௔௟ , where Etotal is the energy of the molecule with the Au slab, EAu is the energy of the Au slab, and Em is the energy of a freespace Br2TPP molecule at its ground state, which is in a planar conformation. The distortion energy is defined as ‫ܧ‬ௗ௜௦௧௢௥௧௜௢௡ ൌ ‫ܧ‬௖௢௡௙௢௥௠௘௥ െ ‫ܧ‬௠ , where Econformer is the energy of the same structures as shown in Fig. 1 but without the Au(111) slab. Edistortion thus quantifies the cost of distorting a planar molecule to a specific conformation in free space. It can be viewed as an energy barrier for a ground-state molecule in free space to reach a specific conformation adsorbed on the surface. As listed in Table 1, amongst the five structures, the sad conformer is adsorbed with the highest adsorption energy (2.16 eV), also with the highest distortion energy (0.49 eV). Therefore, this structure is energetically most favored, but kinetically slow to reach. The second most stable structure is the dom* conformer (1.35 eV) with lower distortion energy (0.41 eV). The pro conformer features intermediate adsorption energy (1.21 eV) and distortion energy (0.38 eV). The dom and planar conformers are weakly adsorbed (0.73 eV and 0.91 eV), but the dom has a much high distortion energy. Overall the dom is an un-favored structure both energetically and kinetically.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

5

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 6 of 32

Figure 1. DFT-optimized structures of five conformers stabilized on Au(111). Table 1. DFT-optimized height, adsorption energy and distortion energy of Br2TPP of five converged structures on Au(111). Conformation

planar

pro

dom

dom*

sad

Adsorption Height (Å)

3.95

3.80

3.80

3.50

3.75

Adsorption Energy (eV)

0.91

1.21

0.73

1.35

2.16

Distortion Energy (eV)

0.08

0.38

0.45

0.41

0.49

Figure 2. Vertical heights of the porphyrin atoms with respect to the top-layer surface atom plane (only two phenyl groups are shown on the two sides). (a) dom* Br2TPP on Au(111). (b) sad Br2TPP on Au(111). (c) sad Br2TPP on Pb(111). (d) ruf DPP on Au(111). Blue: N, black: C. In Fig. 2, we plot the DFT-calculated vertical heights of the atoms with respect to the top atom plane of the substrate of the two stable conformers of dom* and sad on Au(111). In the dom*

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

6

Page 7 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

conformer (Fig. 2(a)), all four pyrrole moieties bend upward in the same manner, while the peripheral phenyl groups (two are plotted on two sides) lie nearly parallel to the substrate. The sad conformer (Fig. 2(b)) features pyrrole moieties displaced alternately up and down. The peripheral phenyl groups are tilted with respect to the surface.

Figure 3. Three conformations of Br2TPP in free space found in the 550 K MD trajectories. All conformers are at a height more than 3.5 Å above the top atom layer of the surface, implying the molecule does not form strong chemical bonds, but interact weakly, with the substrate atoms. Presumably, the conformers undergo dynamic structural relaxation at finite temperatures. The DFT calculations only provide the ground-state energy and structure, i.e., at zero temperature. We applied molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to obtain the dynamic conformations at the experimental-relevant temperatures. We first simulated the conformation dynamics for a free-space molecule. Consider the planar is the lowest-energy conformation in free space, we set it as the initial conformation in free space and sampled the structures at 550 K, comparable to the temperature of evaporating Br2TPP in the experiments. The simulations revealed that the molecule was transformed alternatively among planar, pro, and dom (dom*) conformations, as depicted in Fig. 3, in two independent 500 ns MD trajectories. The sad conformation was not observed in the MD trajectories. These results corroborate the DFTcalculated distortion energy of these conformers shown in Table 1.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

7

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 8 of 32

Figure 4. Snapshots of MD simulations for Br2TPP to adopt the (a) planar and (b) inverted-dome (dom*) conformations adsorbed on a Au(111) substrate. (c) The populations of the final conformation of Br2TPP obtained from 100 paralleled temperature-annealing MD simulations initialed from the dom* (left panel) and planar conformations (right panel), respectively. inter stands for the intermediate structures. Next, we used MD simulations to resolve the structural relaxation of the planar and dom* conformers when they are adsorbed on a Au(111) substrate. As the snapshots shown in Fig. 4a and b, the planar conformer quickly transformed to a sad conformation within 4 ps at 250K (the substrate temperature when the molecules were deposited). In sharp contrast, at the same temperature, the dom* conformer retained its conformation for 2000 ps before transforming to an intermediate conformation, and finally reached the sad conformation after 35 ns (see Movies in SI). Transitions among different conformations (sad, dom* and planar) were simulated using metadynamics path-collective-variables simulations (SI), revealing that the dom* conformation is metastable with a small free energy barrier (~10 kJ/mol) preventing its transition towards the sad conformation (Fig. S5a), while the planar-to-sad transition is barrier-free (Fig. S5b). We also

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

8

Page 9 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

simulated the cooling processes of Br2TPP on Au(111) (SI). Fig. 4c presents the statistical analysis of the final conformations obtained from 100 paralleled cooling MD simulations of each case. While the system cools down from 250K to 5K (the STM imaging temperature), the molecules in the dom* conformation are very stable with over 80% of them still keep their conformations unchanged. However, under the same condition, more than 70% of the planar ones change into the sad conformation. We also carried out the simulations at higher temperatures (300, 350, and 450 K) and found that the life time of the dom* is shortened (Table S1) while the sad conformer is preserved at the same temperatures in the whole trajectories. The DFT and the MD results thus unravel a unified picture of how the molecule adapts the surface adsorption: In free space, the planar conformation is energetically most favored and the sad is the least favored, while at 550 K the planar conformation could alternatively transform among the planar, the pro and the dom conformations but not to the sad. Upon adsorption on a Au(111) surface, however, the sad becomes the energetically most stable conformation, followed by the dom* and pro. At 250 K, the planar conformer quickly transforms to the sad conformation, while the dom* has a longer life time before transforming to the sad. Experimentally, we deposited Br2TPP molecules on a clean Au(111) substrate held at 250 K and transferred the sample to a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) stage cooled at 5 K. Fig. 5a is a STM topograph showing at lower molecular coverage, the molecules organized into dimers; at higher coverage, the molecules formed long chains (Fig. S1). Careful inspection of the STM data revealed two distinctive configurations of the molecules (Fig. 5b, two upper panels): configuration I (conf-I) features a groove along the central axis of the molecule with two central protrusions on each side, which resembles the previously reported saddle-shape conformation; 2627

configuration II (conf-II) appears flat without internal corrugations. Surface-adsorbed

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

9

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 10 of 32

porphyrins often exhibit distinctive topographic and electronic characteristics originated from various mechanisms, for example, deprotonation or metalation of the macrocyclic core,

28-31

proton tautomerization,32-34 adatom attachment,35 or adsorption-site dependent conformational variation.36 We have conducted series control experiments and concluded that these effects cannot explain the two configurations observed here (SI).

Figure 5. (a) STM topograph of Br2TPP molecules on Au(111). Inset: Chemical structure of Br2TPP (red dots indicate Br). (b) Upper panels: STM topographs of a conf-I molecule (left) and a conf-II molecule (right). Middle and lower panels: STS maps of a conf-I molecule (left) and a conf-II molecule (right) acquired at the indicated voltage. (c) STM topographs showing conversion of a dimer from conf-II to conf-I. (d) Upper panel: dI/dV spectra of molecules with each configuration. Lower panel: DFT-calculated projected densities of states (PDOS) of the two conformers. (e) DFT-optimized structures of the sad and dom* conformers. (f) Simulated STM

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

10

Page 11 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

images and constant-height PDOS contour maps of the sad (left) and dom* (right) conformers at the indicated energy. (STM image conditions: -1 V and 0.3 nA. Scale bars, 2 nm.) The theoretical analysis presented above suggest that the sad and dom* conformers are the two most likely structures. Here we compare the experimental-resolved topographic and electronic features of conf-I and conf-II with the sad and dom* conformers. Fig. 5e (two upper panels) shows the simulated images of the two conformers. The simulated image of the sad conformer (red frame) reproduces the two-protrusion feature of the conf-I molecules in the STM topographs (Fig. 5b, upper panels), while the simulated image of the dom* conformer (black frame) features a square shape with a dent in its center, which is absent in the STM image of the conf-II molecule. We attribute the absence of the central dent to tip convolution effects in STM data acquisition. Fig. 5d (upper panel) presents the differential tunneling (dI/dV) spectra acquired at the molecules of the two configurations. The conf-I spectrum (in red) has a broad peak at 1.6 V and a sharp, half-height peak at -0.8 V. The conf-II spectrum (in black) has a strong peak at 1.0 V and a shallow step at -1.3 V. The DFT-calculated projected densities of states (PDOS) of the two conformers are plotted in Fig. 5d (lower panel). The HOMO and LUMO levels of the dom* conformer are downshifted relative to those of the sad conformer, which is consistent with the shift in the dI/dV peaks of conf-II relative to the peaks of conf-I. STS maps of molecules in the two configurations at the characteristic energies are shown in Fig. 5b (middle and lower panels). The occupied states of both configurations display two lobes symmetrically positioned with respect to the central axis. The empty states of the two configurations display quite different spatial distributions: conf-I shows four lobes separated by two orthogonal central axes, whereas conf-II shows two half-moon shapes divided by a groove along the central axis. These STS maps

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

11

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 12 of 32

can be compared with the DFT-simulated constant height contour maps of HOMO and LUMO as shown in Fig. 5e (middle and lower panels). The HOMO maps of the two conformers are nearly identical, with both showing two protrusions. In contrast, the LUMO maps of the two conformers are quite different: the sad conformer displays a four-fold pattern, while the dom* conformer displays a two-fold pattern. The HOMO and LUMO contour maps of sad match well the occupied and empty states of the conf-I resolved by STS (Fig. 5b), while the HOMO and LUMO contour maps of dom* match the occupied and empty states of conf-II molecules. Taken together, comparison of the experimentally-resolved topographic and electronic data with the DFT results supports the assignment of the conf-II (conf-I) to the dom* (sad) conformer. We found that annealing the sample to 450 K raised the population of conf-I molecules from 25% to 75% (SI), indicating that thermal excitation may convert dom* conformers to sad. We also used the STM tip to convert dom* conformers to sad. An example of a sequential conversion of a covalently-linked dimer, which was formed by 450 K annealing, is shown in Fig. 5c: in the first step, a 2-V voltage pulse was applied when the tip was positioned on top of the upper molecule; after acquiring an STM image the second 2-V pulse was applied to the lower molecule. The conversion did not displace or rotate the molecule, indicating that the conversion involves a subtle conformation change. Such tip-induced conformation conversion was reported before.37 It is worthwhile to note that the molecules cannot be changed from conf-I to conf-II using tip-applied voltage pulse. Both thermal- and electron-excited conversions manifest that the dom* conformers can be transformed to sad but not vice versa, which agrees with the DFTcalculated energies of the two structures and the MD-simulated temperature dependent structural transformation.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

12

Page 13 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Here we discuss the effects of surface and periphery groups to the conformation adaptation. To investigate the surface effects, we used Pb(111) as the substrate. We deposited Br2TPP on Pb(111) following the same procedure as on Au(111). Fig. 6a is a STM topograph showing that the Br2TPP molecules formed close-packed islands on Pb(111). The molecules show bright protrusions at their four corners and a dark depression in the center. Thorough inspection revealed that all molecules exhibit the same features, evidencing that the Br2TPP molecules adopt a single conformation on Pb(111). We applied DFT to analyze a sad and a dom* conformers of Br2TPP on Pb(111). The adsorption energy is 1.89 eV for the sad conformer and 0.72 eV for the dom* conformer. On both surfaces, the sad conformers are adsorbed strongly (2.16 eV on Au(111) and 1. 89 eV on Pb(111)) as compared with the dom* conformers (1.35 eV on Au(111) and 0.72 eV on Pb(111)). Nevertheless, Pb(111) renders weaker molecule-substrate interaction for both conformers. Presumably, the dom* conformers undergo faster structural transformation as deposited on Pb(111) and relax to the sad conformation in very short time. This explains the experimental observation that only one type of molecules were present on Pb(111). In other word, the weaker molecule-substrate interaction makes Pb(111) more selective in adapting the molecular conformation.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

13

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 14 of 32

Figure 6. (a) STM topograph of a close-packed island of Br2TPP on Pb(111) (image conditions: 5.5 × 5.5 nm2, -1 V and 0.1 nA). (b) Upper panel: molecular dI/dV spectrum. Lower panel: PDOS of a sad conformer. (c) STS maps at the indicated bias voltage. (d) DFT-optimized structure of a sad conformer. (e) Constant-height PDOS contour maps of a sad conformer at the indicated energies. The intra-molecular features resolved in Fig. 6a appear differently from those shown in Fig. 5b despite both are of the sad conformation. To understand this difference, we inspected the electronic structures of Br2TPP on Pb(111). A dI/dV spectrum (Fig. 6b) shows two split peaks at 0.8 and 1.0 V, which contrasts the single broad peak shown in Fig. 5d. The spatial distribution of the two peaks is depicted in the STS maps shown in Fig. 6c. Both maps feature a depression line dividing the molecule into two halves (Note that the dividing lines of the two maps are perpendicular with each other.), which is different from the four-lobe map shown in Fig. 5b. The calculated PDOS (Fig. 6b, lower panel) nicely reproduces the two-peak features resolved in the dI/dV spectrum, showing a peak at 0.44 eV and one at 0.57 eV. The PDOS contour maps at the two peak energies are displayed in Fig. 6e, which are comparable with the STS maps (Fig. 6c). To trace down the origin of the differences exhibited by the sad conformer on Au(111) and Pb(111), we compare the vertical heights of the atoms of the sad conformers adsorbed on Au(111) and on Pb(111), as presented in Fig. 2b and 2c, respectively. The atoms of both conformers exhibit the same pattern of distortion. However, the displacements from the mean molecular plane on Pb(111) are ∼25% larger than those on Au(111), indicating that the sad conformer is more distorted on Pb(111). This larger distortion of the macrocyclic core lifts the degeneracy of two LUMOs, which are 90° rotated with respect to each other in a planar porphyrin,38-39 to result in the split double peaks and the 90° rotated STS maps.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

14

Page 15 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Last, to study how peripheral groups affect the conformation adaptation, we designed a molecule bearing two phenyl moieties at positions 5 and 15 of the porphyrin (5,15diphenylporphyrin, DPP, chemical structure shown in Fig. 7a). STM images revealed that as adsorbed on Au(111), the DPP molecules appear an elliptical shape, with two bright ends that can be assigned to the two phenyl moieties, and a depression in the porphyrin core (Fig. 7b). All molecules in the STM image show the same features (Fig. S3). So we conclude DPP molecules adopted a single conformation on Au(111).

Figure 7. (a) Chemical structure of DPP (b) STM topograph of a single DPP molecule adsorbed on Au(111) (2 × 2 nm2, -1 V and 0.3 nA). (c) DFT-optimized structure and (d) PDOS map of the ruf conformer. Considering that the ruf conformation matches the two-fold symmetry of the molecule, we carried out DFT analysis on a ruf and a sad conformers on Au(111). The adsorption energies are 1.75 eV for ruf and 0.82 for sad. Therefore it is expected that at room temperature, the ruf conformers are stably adsorbed on Au(111). Fig. 7c shows the DFT-optimized structure of the ruf conformer. The two phenyl moieties stand upright, and the macrocyclic core shows a ruffled distortion. The ruf conformation is evident in Fig. 2d which shows that the displacement of the two pyrrole moieties on the left (with respect to a central atom) is a mirror reflection of the displacement of the two pyrrole moieties on the right and both sides bend upward. The two phenyl groups erect on the surface with an outstanding height (note that the phenyl atoms are plotted in a different scale). The DFT-simulated map of the ruf conformer (Fig. 7d) shows two

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

15

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 16 of 32

bright protrusions corresponding to the erecting phenyl groups and a ruffled macrocylic core with a depression. This map agrees fairly well with the STM image (Fig. 7b). In contrast, the simulated sad conformer appears very different from the STM data (see Fig. S4). Interestingly, the ruf conformation is unstable for Br2TPP but becomes stable for DPP; whereas the most stable sad conformation for Br2TPP becomes less stable for DPP. This comparison exemplifies that removing/attaching periphery side groups may drastically change the energy landscape of specific conformers adsorbed on a surface. Three main effects of periphery side groups are at work: (1) steric repulsion with the macrocyclic core, (2) interaction with the substrate, and (3) raising the macrocyclic core from the substrate. The conformation of the macrocylic core is determined by a subtle balance of the three effects. Hence we propose that periphery substitution is an effective mean to control the conformation of the porphyrins adsorbed on surfaces. In summary, we have investigated the dynamic conformation adaptation processes of porphyrin molecules as being adsorbed on surfaces. Our results evidence that the macrocyclic core of the surfaces-adsorbed porphyrin molecules can be distorted to the conformations (dome or ruffled) that are not present or less-stable in free space, highlighting the prominent roles of the molecule-substrate interaction in determining the porphyrin conformation. The atomic modeling allows us to resolve the detail pathway of the surface-induced structural transformation. Moreover, our comparative studies of choosing different surfaces and molecules with different periphery groups shed lights on the effects of these parameters. Notes: The authors declare no competing financial interests. ACKNOWLEDGMENT: This work is supported by Hong Kong RGC 16303514, the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC-CNERC14SC01), Hong Kong RGC 16304215,

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

16

Page 17 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 21172069, 21372072 and 21190033) and the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups (21421004). Supporting Information: Synthesis, DFT and MD methods, experimental procedure, Br2TPP and DPP assemblies at larger molecular coverage, MD simulation movies, DFT-calculated Br2TPP in dom* con-formation, DFT-calculated DPP in sad conformation. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

17

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 18 of 32

REFERENCES: (1) Kratky, C.; Waditschatka, R.; Angst, C.; Johansen, J.; Plaquevent, J. C.; Schreiber, J.; Eschenmoser, A. The Saddle Conformation of Hydroporphinoid Nickel(II) Complexes: Structure, Origin, and Stereochemical Consequence. Helv. Chim. Acta. 1982, 68, 13121337. (2) Waditschatka, R.; Kratky, C.; Jaun, B.; Heinzer, J.; Eschenmoser, A. Chemistry of Pyrrocorphins: Structure of Nickel(II)ccccc-Octaethyl-Pyrrocorphinate in the Solid State and in Solution. Observation of the Inversion Barrier between Enantiomorphically Ruffled Conformers. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1985, 304, 1604-1607. (3) Geno, M. K.; Halpern, J. Why Does Nature Not Use the Porphyrin Ligand in Vitamin B12? J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1987, 109, 1238-1240. (4) Furenlid, L. R.; Renner, M. W.; Smith, K. M.; Fajer, J. Structural Consequences of Nickel versus Macrocycle Reductions in F430 Models: EXAFS Studies of a Ni(I) Anion and Ni(II) .pi. Anion Radicals. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1990, 112, 1634-1635. (5) Barkigia, K. M.; Chantranupong, L. K.; Smith, M.; Fajer, J. Synthesis and Stabilization of Tantalum-Coordinated Dihydroxyacetylene from Two Reductively Coupled Carbon Monoxide Ligands. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1988, 110, 7564-7566. (6) Anderson, K. K.; Hobbs, J. D.; Luo, L.; Stanley, K. D.; Quirke, J. M. E.; Shelnutt, J. A. Planar-nonplanar Conformational Equilibrium in Metal Derivatives of Octaethylporphyrin and meso-Nitrooctaethylporphyrin. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 12346-12352. (7) Shelnutt, J. A.; Medforth, C. J.; Berber, M. D.; Barkigia, K. M.; Smith, K. M. Relationships between Structural Parameters and Raman Frequencies for Some Planar and Nonplanar Nickel(II) Porphyrins. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 4077-4087.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

18

Page 19 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

(8) Medforth, C. J.; Berber, M. D.; Smith, K. M.; Shelnutt, J. A. Tetracycloalkenyl-mesoTetraphenylporphyrins as Models for the Effect of Non-Planarity on the Light Absorption Properties of Photosynthetic Chromophores. Tetrahedron Lett. 1990, 31, 3719-3722. (9) Medforth, C. J.; Senge, M. O.; Smith, K. M.; Sparks, L. D.; Shelnutt, J. A. Nonplanar Distortion Modes for Highly Substituted Porphyrins. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 98599869. (10) Shelnutt, J. A.; Majumder, S. A.; Sparks, L. D.; Hobbs, J. D.; Medforth, C. J.; Senge, M. O.; Smith, K. M.; Miura, M.; Luo, L.; Quirke, J. M. E. Resonance Raman Spectroscopy of Non-Planar Nickel Porphyrins. J. Raman Spectrosc. 1992, 23, 523-529. (11) Sparks, L. D.; Medforth, C. J.; Park, M. S.; Chamberlain, J. R.; Ondrias, M. R.; Senge, M. O.; Smith, K. M.; Shelnutt, J. A. Metal Dependence of the Nonplanar Distortion of Octaalkyltetraphenylporphyrins. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 581-592. (12) Shelnutt, J. A.; Song, X.-Z.; Ma, J.-G.; Jia, S.-L.; Jentzen, W.; Medforth, C. J.; Medforth, C. J. Nonplanar Porphyrins and Their Significance in Proteins. Chem. Soc. Rev. 1998, 27, 31-42. (13) Jentzen, W.; Simpson, M. C.; Hobbs, J. D.; Song, X.-Z.; Ema, T.; Nelson, N. Y.; Medforth, C. J.; Smith, K. M.; Veyrat, M.; Mazzanti, M.; et al. Ruffling in a Series of Nickel(II) meso-Tetrasubstituted Porphyrins as a Model for the Conserved Ruffling of the Heme of Cytochromes c. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 11085-11097. (14) Song, X.-Z.; Jentzen, W.; Jia, S.-L.; Jaquinod, L.; Nurco, D. J.; Medforth, C. J.; Smith, K. M.; Shelnutt, J. A. Representation of Nonplanar Structures of Nickel(II) 5,15-Disubstituted Porphyrins in Terms of Displacements along the Lowest-Frequency Normal Coordinates of the Macrocycle. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 12975-12988.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

19

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 20 of 32

(15) Alden, R. G.; Crawford, B. A.; Doolen, R.; Ondrias, M. R.; Shelnutt, J. A. Ruffling of Nickel(II) Octaethylporphyrin in Solution. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1989, 111, 2070-2072. (16) Jentzen, W.; Unger, E.; Karvounis, G.; Shelnutt, J. A.; Dreybrodt, W.; SchweitzerStenner, R. Conformational Properties of Nickel(II) Octaethylporphyrin in Solution. 1. Resonance Excitation Profiles and Temperature Dependence of Structure-Sensitive Raman Lines. J. Phys. Chem. 1996, 100, 14184-14191. (17) Sparks, L. D.; Anderson, K. K.; Medforth, C. J.; Smith, K. M.; Shelnutt, J. A. Correlations between Raman Frequencies and Structure for Planar and Nonplanar Metalloporphyrins. Inorg. Chem. 1994, 33, 2297-2302. (18) Senn, H.; Wüthrich, K. Amino Acid Sequence, Haem-Iron Co-Ordination Geometry and Functional Properties of Mitochondrial and Bacterial C-Type Cytochromes. Q. Rev. Biophys. 1985, 18, 111-134. (19) Hoffman, B. M. The Porphyrins; ed. Dolphin, D. Academic, New York, 1979. (20) Seufert, K.; Bocquet, M.; Auwärter, W.; Weber-Bargioni, A.; Reichert, J.; Lorente, N.; Barth, J. V. Cis-Dicarbonyl Binding at Cobalt and Iron Porphyrins with Saddle-Shape Conformation. Nat. Chem. 2011, 3, 114-119. (21) Gottfried, J. M. Surface Chemistry of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines. Surf. Sci. Rep. 2015, 70, 259-379. (22) Weber-Bargioni, A.; Auwärter, W.; Klappenberger, F.; Reichert, J.; Lefrançois, S.; Strunskus, T.; Wöll, C.; Schiffrin, A.; Pennec, Y.; Barth, J. V. Visualizing the Frontier Orbitals of a Conformationally Adapted Metalloporphyrin. Chem. Phys. Chem. 2008, 9, 89-94.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

20

Page 21 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

(23) Li, Q.; Yamazaki, S.; Eguchi, T.; Hasegawa, Y.; Kim, H.; Kahng, S. J.; Jia, J. F.; Xue, Q. K. Adsorption, Manipulation and Self-assembling of TBrPP-Co Molecules on a Ag/Si(111) Surface by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy. Nanotechnology 2008, 19, 465707-5. (24) Brede, J.; Linares, M.; Kuck, S.; Schwöbel, J.; Scarfato, A.; Chang, S.-H.; Hoffmann, G.; Wiesendanger, R.; Lensen, R.; Kouwer, P. H. J.; et al. Dynamics of Molecular SelfOrdering in Tetraphenyl Porphyrin Monolayers on Metallic Substrates. Nanotechnology 2009, 20, 275602-10. (25) Jentzen, W.; Song, X.-Z.; Shelnutt, J. A. Structural Characterization of Synthetic and Protein-Bound Porphyrins in Terms of the Lowest-Frequency Normal Coordinates of the Macrocycle. J. Phys. Chem. B 1997, 101, 1684-1699. (26) Unger, E.; Beck, M.; Lipski, R. J.; Dreybrodt, W.; Medforth, C. J.; Smith, K. M.; Schweitzer-Stenner, R. A New Method for Evaluating the Conformations and Normal Modes of Macromolecule Vibrations with a Reduced Force Field. 2. Application to Nonplanar Distorted Metal Porphyrins. J. Phys. Chem. B 1999, 103, 10022-10031. (27) Kim, H.; Chang, Y. H.; Lee, S.-H.; Kim, Y.-H.; Kahng, S.-J. Switching and Sensing Spin States of Co–Porphyrin in Bimolecular Reactions on Au(111) Using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy. ACS Nano 2013, 7, 9312-9317. (28) Zoldan, V. C.; Faccio, R.; Pasa, A. A. n and p Type Character of Single Molecule Diodes. Sci. Rep. 2015, 5, 8350-8. (29) Zotti, L. A.; Teobaldi, G.; Hofer, W. A.; Auwärter, W.; Weber-Bargioni, A.; Barth, J. V. Ab-initio Calculations and STM Observations on Tetrapyridyl and Fe(II)-Tetrapyridylporphyrin Molecules on Ag(1 1 1). Sur. Sci. 2007, 601, 2409-2414.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

21

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 22 of 32

(30) Stark, M.; Ditze, S.; Lepper, M.; Zhang, L.; Schlott, H.; Buchner, F.; Röckert, M.; Chen, M.; Lytken, O.; Steinrück, H.-P.; et al. Massive Conformational Changes During Thermally Induced Self-Metalation of 2H-tetrakis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl)-phenylporphyrin on Cu(111). Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 10225-10228. (31) Weber-Bargioni, A.; Reichert, J.; Seitsonen, A. P.; Auwärter, W.; Schiffrin, A.; Barth, J. V. Interaction of Cerium Atoms with Surface-Anchored Porphyrin Molecules. J. Phys. Chem. C. 2008, 112, 3453-3455. (32) Auwärter, W.; Seufert, K.; Bischoff, F.; Ecija, D.; Vijayaraghavan, S.; Joshi, S.; Klappenberger, F.; Samudrala, N.; Barth, J. V. A Surface-Anchored Molecular Four-Level Conductance Switch Based on Single Proton Transfer. Nat. Nanotech. 2012, 7, 41-46. (33) Kumagai, T.; Hanke, F.; Gawinkowski, S.; Sharp, J.; Kotsis, K.; Waluk, J.; Persson, M.; Grill, L. Thermally and Vibrationally Induced Tautomerization of Single Porphycene Molecules on a Cu(110) Surface. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2013, 111, 246101-5. (34) Kumagai, T.; Hanke, F.; Gawinkowski, S.; Sharp, J.; Kotsis, K.; Waluk, J.; Persson, M.; Grill, L. Controlling Intramolecular Hydrogen Transfer in a Porphycene Molecule with Single Atoms or Molecules Located Nearby. Nat. Chem. 2014, 6, 41-46. (35) Mielke, J.; Hanke, F.; Peters, M. V.; Hecht, S.; Persson, M.; Grill, L. Adatoms underneath Single Porphyrin Molecules on Au(111). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 18441849. (36) Jarvis, S. P.; Taylor, S.; Baran, J. D.; Thompson, D.; Saywell, A.; Mangham, B.; Champness, N. R.; Larsson, J. A.; Moriarty, P. Physisorption Controls the Conformation and Density of States of an Adsorbed Porphyrin. J. Phys. Chem. C 2015, 119, 2798227994.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

22

Page 23 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

(37) Iancu, V.; Deshpande, A.; Hla, S.–W. Manipulating Kondo Temperature via Single Molecule Switching. Nano Lett. 2006, 6, 820-823. (38) Gouterman, M. Study of the Effects of Substitution on the Absorption Spectra of Porphin. J. Chem. Phys. 1959, 30, 1139-1161. (39) Palummo, M.; Hogan, C.; Sottile, F.; Bagalá, P.; Rubio, A. Ab initio Electronic and Optical Spectra of Free-Base Porphyrins: The Role of Electronic Correlation. J. Chem. Phys. 2009, 131, 084102-3.

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

23

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Scheme 1. Non-planar conformations of the macrocylic core of porphyrins identified in this study: (a) saddle (sad), (b) inverted-dome (dom*) and (c) ruffled (ruf). Black and red dots indicate displacements on opposite sides of the mean plane. 86x46mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 24 of 32

Page 25 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Figure 1. DFT-optimized structures of five conformers stabilized on Au(111). 150x26mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Figure 2. Vertical heights of the porphyrin atoms with respect to the top-layer surface atom plane (only two phenyl groups are shown on the two sides). (a) dom* Br2TPP on Au(111). (b) sad Br2TPP on Au(111). (c) sad Br2TPP on Pb(111). (d) ruf DPP on Au(111). Blue: N, black: C. 55x47mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 26 of 32

Page 27 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Figure 3. Three conformations of Br2TPP in free space found in the 550 K MD trajectories. 85x10mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Figure 4. Snapshots of MD simulations for Br2TPP to adopt the (a) planar and (b) inverted-dome (dom*) conformations adsorbed on a Au(111) substrate. (c) The populations of the final conformation of Br2TPP obtained from 100 paralleled temperature-annealing MD simulations initialed from the dom* (left panel) and planar conformations (right panel), respectively. inter stands for the intermediate structures. 79x62mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 28 of 32

Page 29 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Figure 5. (a) STM topograph of Br2TPP molecules on Au(111). Inset: Chemical structure of Br2TPP (red dots indicate Br). (b) Upper panels: STM topographs of a conf-I molecule (left) and a conf-II molecule (right). Middle and lower panels: STS maps of a conf-I molecule (left) and a conf-II molecule (right) acquired at the indicated voltage. (c) STM topographs showing conversion of a dimer from conf-II to conf-I. (d) Upper panel: dI/dV spectra of molecules with each configuration. Lower panel: DFT-calculated projected densities of states (PDOS) of the two conformers. (e) DFT-optimized structures of the sad and dom* conformers. (f) Simulated STM images and constant-height PDOS contour maps of the sad (left) and dom* (right) conformers at the indicated energy. (STM image conditions: -1 V and 0.3 nA. Scale bars, 2 nm.) 84x100mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Figure 6. (a) STM topograph of a close-packed island of Br2TPP on Pb(111) (image conditions: 5.5 × 5.5 nm2, -1 V and 0.1 nA). (b) Upper panel: molecular dI/dV spectrum. Lower panel: PDOS of a sad conformer. (c) STS maps at the indicated bias voltage. (d) DFT-optimized structure of a sad conformer. (e) Constantheight PDOS contour maps of a sad conformer at the indicated energies. 85x45mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 30 of 32

Page 31 of 32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Figure 7. (a) Chemical structure of DPP (b) STM topograph of a single DPP molecule adsorbed on Au(111) (2 × 2 nm2, -1 V and 0.3 nA). (c) DFT-optimized structure and (d) PDOS map of the ruf conformer. 84x20mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

TOC 50x38mm (300 x 300 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 32 of 32