Replacement of self-assembled monolayers (SAM) of hexadecanethiol (HDT) on the Au(111) surface with 12-mercaptododecanoic acid (MDDA) in ethanol solution has been studied using voltammetry of the reductive desorption and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The exchange of adsorbed HDT molecules with MDDA dissolved in ethanol proceeds domainwise, that is, not in a random fashion. Two well-separated peaks, corresponding to the desorption of MDDA-rich domains and HDT-rich domains, appear in a voltammogram over the replacement process. The peak potential associated with the desorption of HDTrich domains remains unchanged in the course of the replacement, indicating that the solubility of MDDA in HDT-rich domains is very small. STM imaging of the substrate shows that domains whose sizes are greater than 15 nm 2 are predominant and occupy 85% of the area of HDT-rich domains. The entire exchange process is pseudo-first-order with the rate constant being 9.1 × 10 -3 h -1 in 1 mmol dm -3 MDDA in ethanol at 31 °C. The reverse process, i.e., the replacement of adsorbed MDDA with dissolved HDT in ethanol, is much slower, suggesting the stabilization of MDDA monolayers by lateral hydrogen bonding. A significant shift in the peak potential of MDDA-rich domains during the replacement indicates the considerable dissolution of HDT in MDDA domains.

Self-assembly of n-dioctadecyl sulfide (ODS) on Au(111) has been closely investigated by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), in which the binding condition of sulfur on Au(111) was determined by the S(2p) XPS peak position, and the surface density and chain conformation of adsorbed molecules were determined by the relative XPS peak intensity, C(1s)/S(2p). The surface reaction of ODS on Au(111) was unstable unlike ODT SAM, and it was changed drastically by small variation of adsorption condition. When adsorption was carried out in 1 mM CH2Cl2 solution at room temperature, ODS molecules mostly formed fully adsorbed SAMs, intact without C−S cleavage. This was evaluated by the C(1s)/S(2p) intensity, which was twice as strong as ODT SAM, and by the S(2p) peak which appeared as a doublet at the position of “unbound” sulfur [S(2p3/2) at ∼163 eV], suggesting “physisorption” of ODS on Au(111). On the other hand, when a different condition for SAM formation was used (e.g., high temperature, long time immersion, or CHCl3 as a solvent), the C(1s)/S(2p) intensity decreased to a value smaller than ODT SAM, and the S(2p) peak was shifted to lower binding energies, the “bound” (162 eV) and “free” (161 eV) sulfur positions. In these SAMs, different surface reactions including carbon−sulfur (C−S) bond cleavage seem to occur rather than nondestructive adsorption. High-resolution atomic force microscope images revealed that ODS SAM, prepared by 24-h immersion in 1 mM CH2Cl2 solution at room temperature, formed a hexagonal lattice with the lattice constant, d = 0.46 nm, which is nearly equal to the close-packed distance between alkyl chains and totally incommensurate against gold adlattice. Our data suggest a unique self-assembling process of ODS SAM, in which the chain−chain interaction is expected to be more predominant rather than the molecule−substrate interaction unlike ODT SAM.

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