Deschenaux, Robert

1994, Deschenaux, Robert, Masoni, Claudio, Stoeckli-Evans, Helen, Vaucher, Sebastien, Ketterer, Jurgen, Steiger, Rolf, Weisenhorn, Albrecht L.

An amphiphilic polynuclear transition-metal cluster has been prepd. and its capability for forming layers at the air-water interface and Langmuir-Blodgett films on different substrates investigated. The compd. was obtained by linking a Co3(CO)9 cluster to a hydrophobic cholesterol framework. A polar head was introduced by substituting one CO ligand by an isocyanide deriv. bearing a hydrophilic functional group. The surface pressure and surface potential vs. area isotherms and Brewster-angle microscopy indicated the formation of stable Langmuir films. Up to thirty-six transfer were performed on hydrophobized solids (mica, glass, quartz and silicon wafers). Structural characterization of the transferred films (UV and IR spectroscopy, at. force microscopy, small-angle x-ray scattering) demonstrated the formation of stable, highly organized crystals. The results represent a novel strategy towards the development of supramol. assemblies from polynuclear transition-metal compds. and organometallic surfaces. The structure of [Co3(CO)8(CCO2Me)(CNC6H4CN)] has been established by x-ray crystallog. [on SciFinder(R)]