We investigated the adsorption of three related cyano-functionalizedt etraphenyl porphyrin derivativeso n Cu(111)b ys canningt unneling microscopy (STM) in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) with the goalt oi dentify the role of the cyano group and the central Cu atom for the intermolecular and supramolecular arrangement. The porphyrin derivatives studied were Cu-TCNPP,C u-cisDCNPP,a nd 2H-cisDCNPP,t hat is, Cu-5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(p-cyano)-phenylporphyrin, Cumeso-cis-di(p-cyano)-phenylporphyrin and 2H-meso-cis-di(pcyano)-phenylporphyrin, respectively.S tartingf rom different structures obtained after deposition at room temperature, all three molecules form the same long-range ordered hexagonal honeycomb-type structure with triangular pores and three molecules per unit cell. For the metal-free 2H-cisDCNPP,t his occurs only after self-metalation upon heating. The structure-forming elements are pores with ad istance of 3.1 nm, formed by triangles of porphyrins fused together by cyano-Cu-cyano interactions with Cu adatoms. This finding leads us to suggest that two cyano-phenyl groups in the "cis"p ositioni st he minimum prerequisite to form ah ighly ordered 2D porous molecular pattern.T he experimental findings are supported by detailed density functional theory calculations to analyze the driving forces that lead to the formation of the porous hexagonal honeycombtype structure.

We investigated the metalation and coordination reactions of Co with 2H-5,15-bis(para-cyanophenyl)-10,20-bisphenylporphyrin (2HtransDCNPP) on a Ag(111) surface by scanning tunneling microscopy. At room temperature (RT), 2HtransDCNPPs self-assemble into a supramolecular structure stabilized by intermolecular hydrogen bonding. The metalation of 2HtransDCNPP is achieved either by depositing Co atoms onto the supramolecular structure at RT, or, alternatively, by depositing the molecules onto a submonolayer Co-precovered Ag(111) surface with a subsequent heating to 500 K. In addition, the molecules coordinate to Co atoms through the N atoms in the peripheral cyano groups with a preference of isolated 4-fold coordination motifs at RT.

We study the interaction and metalation reaction of a free base 5,10,15,20‐terakis(4‐cyanophenyl)porphyrin (2HTCNPP) with post‐deposited Zn atoms and the targeted reaction product Zn‐5,10,15,20‐terakis(4‐cyanophenyl)porphyrin (ZnTCNPP) on a Ag(111) surface. The investigations are performed with scanning tunneling microscopy at room temperature after Zn deposition and subsequent heating. The goal is to obtain further insights in the metalation reaction and the influence of the cyanogroups on this reaction. The interaction of 2HTCNPP with post‐deposited Zn leads to the formation of three different 2D ordered island types that coexist on the surface. All contain a new species with a bright appearance, which increases with the amount of post‐deposited Zn. We attribute this to metastable SAT (“sitting atop”) complexes formed by Zn and the macrocycle, that is, an intermediate in the metalation reaction to ZnTCNPP, which occurs upon heating to 500 K. Interestingly, the activation barrier for the successive reaction of the SAT complex to the metalated ZnTCNPP species can also be overcome by a voltage pulse applied to the STM tip.

We investigated the adsorption of 2H-5,10,15,20-tetracyanophenyl-tetrabenzoporphyrin (2H-TCNPTBP) molecules on Cu(111) by scanning tunneling microscopy in ultrahigh vacuum at room temperature. Three types of network structures are observed to coexist on the surface. The first two, a porous Kagome lattice and a porous quadratic structure, are stabilized by cyano–Cu–cyano bonds with Cu adatoms; the third is a close-packed hexagonal network, with much weaker intermolecular H-bonds and dipole–dipole interactions of oppositely oriented cyano end groups. The coexistence of the three structures is attributed to very similar energetics. While the two metal-coordinated porous structures with identical molecular density are stabilized by the energy gain due to the network formation, the hexagonal network compensates the weaker intermolecular interactions by a factor of 2.3 higher molecular density; furthermore, kinetic stabilization might play a role. Our results show that cyano functionalization of benzoporphyrins gives rise to unusual two-dimensional self-assembled lattice structures.