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Science 29 June 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5833, pp. 1883 - 1886
DOI: 10.1126/science.1141410
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Reports

Reversible Control of Hydrogenation of a Single Molecule

Satoshi Katano,1 Yousoo Kim,1* Masafumi Hori,1,2 Michael Trenary,3 Maki Kawai1,2*

Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy was used to selectively break the N-H bond of a methylaminocarbyne (CNHCH3) molecule on a Pt(111) surface at 4.7 kelvin, leaving the C-H bonds intact, to form an adsorbed methylisocyanide molecule (CNCH3). The methylisocyanide product was identified through comparison of its vibrational spectrum with that of directly adsorbed methylisocyanide as measured with inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy. The CNHCH3 could be regenerated in situ by exposure to hydrogen at room temperature. The combination of tip-induced dehydrogenation with thermodynamically driven hydrogenation allows a completely reversible chemical cycle to be established at the single-molecule level in this system. By tailoring the pulse conditions, irreversible dissociation entailing cleavage of both the C-H and N-H bonds can also be demonstrated.

1 Surface Chemistry Laboratory, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
2 Department of Advanced Materials, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8651, Japan.
3 Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60607–7061, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: maki{at}riken.jp (M.K.); ykim{at}riken.jp (Y.K.)

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Design and control of electron transport properties of single molecules.
S. Pan, Q. Fu, T. Huang, A. Zhao, B. Wang, Y. Luo, J. Yang, and J. Hou (2009)
PNAS 106, 15259-15263
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)