Supramolecular Engineering through Temperature-Induced Chemical Modification of 2H-Tetraphenylporphyrin on Ag(111): Flat Phenyl Conformation and Possible Dehydrogenation Reactions

Scratching the surface: Forming a monolayer of 2H-tetraphenylporphyrins on AgACHTUNGTRENUNG(111), either by sublimation of a multilayer in the range 525–600 K or by annealing (at the same temperature) a monolayer deposited at room temperature, induces a chemical modification of the molecules (see figure). Rotation of the phenyl rings into a flat conformation is observed and tentatively explained by using DFT calculations, as a peculiar reaction due to molecular dehydrogenation.