The conversion of light alkanes to olefins is crucial to the chemical industry. The quest for improved catalytic performance for this conversion is motivated by current drawbacks including: expensive noble metal catalysts, poor conversion, low selectivity, and fast decay of efficiency. The in situ visualization of complex catalysis at the atomic level is therefore a major advance in the rational framework upon building the future catalysts. Herein, the catalytic C−H bond activations of ethylbenzene on TiO 2 (110)-(1 × 1) were explored with highresolution scanning tunneling microscopy and first-principles calculations. We report that the first C−H bond scission is a two-step process that can be triggered by either heat or ultraviolet light at 80 K, with near 100% selectivity of β-CH bond cleavage. This work provides fundamental understanding of C−H bonds cleavage of ethylbenzene on metal oxides, and it may promote the design of new catalysts for selective styrene production under mild conditions.

A two-dimensional van der Waals supramolecular framework is created by self-assembled cocrystallization of C 60 and octanethiol molecules on the Au(111) surfaces. The framework is characterized by the two-dimensional C 60 network, in which the pores are filled by RS-Au-SR (R = CH 3 (CH 2 ) 7 S) staples. The framework is stabilized by cooperative interactions involving collective self-assembly instead of the commonly observed pairwise interactions between the nearest neighbors. The pairing of two adjacent C 60 molecules and the formation of C 60 dimer are visualized by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopic imaging, in conjunction with first-principles calculations, suggesting a charge transfer in each C 60 dimer. Such van der Waals C 60 supramolecular framework with intermolecular charge transfer, serving a rare example in artificial 2D molecular crystal for inert C 60 molecules, is very promising in applications of optics and devices.

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A self-assembled monolayer (SAM) consisting of a mixture of CHS-Au-SCH, CHS-Au-S(CH)CH, and CH(CH)S-Au-S(CH)CH was studied systematically using scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional calculations. We find that the SAM is subjected to frequent changes at the molecular level on the time scale of ∼minutes. The presence of CHS or CHS-Au as a dissociation product of CHS-Au-SCH plays a key role in the dynamical behavior of the mixed SAM. Slow phase separation takes place at room temperature over hours to days, leading to the formation of methyl-thiolate-rich and propyl-thiolate-rich phases. Our results provide new insights into the chemistry of the thiolate-Au interface, especially for ligand exchange reaction in the RS-Au-SR staple motif.

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