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Science 16 October 1992:
Vol. 258. no. 5081, pp. 441 - 443
DOI: 10.1126/science.258.5081.441
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Articles

Polymerization-Induced Epitaxy: Scanning Tunneling Microscopy of a Hydrogen-Bonded Sheet of Polyamide on Graphite

Masahito Sano 1, Darryl Y. Sasaki 1, and Toyoki Kunitake 1

1 Molecular Architecture Project, Research Development Corporation of Japan, Kurume Research Park, Kurume, Fukuoka 830, Japan

A molecularly thin film of a two-dimensional polymer network formed by hydrogen bonding was synthesized and investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy. Poly(isin-caprolactam) (nylon 6) was epitaxially grown on the basal plane of graphite and an ultrathin film of the polymer was obtained after the bulk materials had been washed away with solvents. The polymer chain has a planar, all-trans conformation and adjacent chains run in the antiparallel direction. This produces complete pairing of hydrogen bonding groups, with each amide group lying on a straight line perpendicular to the polymer backbone. This hydrogen-bonded sheet is oriented so that each polymer backbone lies in the (1010) direction on the graphite hexagonal lattice, as opposed to the (1120) direction taken by other paraffinic molecules studied so far. This experiment shows that hydrogen bonding can be used to control the orientation of macromolecules in two dimensions.

Submitted on May 14, 1992
Accepted on July 20, 1992


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Directionally Aligned Helical Peptides on Surfaces.
J. K. Whitesell and H. K. Chang (1993)
Science 261, 73-76
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