Ordering, Flexibility and Frustration in Arrays of Porphyrin Nanorings

Summerfield, Alex; Baldoni, Matteo; Kondratuk, Dmitry V; Anderson, Harry L; Whitelam, Stephen; Garrahan, Juan P; Besley, Elena; Beton, Peter H

Abstract

The regular packing of atoms, molecules and nanoparticles provides the basis for the understanding of structural order within condensed phases of matter. Typically the constituent particles are considered to be rigid with a fixed shape. Here we show, through a combined experimental and numerical study of the adsorption of cyclic porphyrin polymers, nanorings, on a graphite surface, that flexible molecules can exhibit a rich and complex packing behaviour. Depending on the number of porphyrin sub-units within the nanoring we observe either a highly ordered hexagonal phase or frustrated packing driven by directional interactions which for some arrangements is combined with the internal deformation of the cyclic polymer. Frustration and deformation occur in arrays of polymers with ten sub-units since close packing and co-alignment of neighbouring groups cannot be simultaneously realised for nanorings with this internal symmetry. *[e-mail] 2

Citation

Summerfield, A., Baldoni, M., Kondratuk, D. V., Anderson, H. L., Whitelam, S., Garrahan, J. P., Besley, E., & Beton, P. H. (2019). Ordering, Flexibility and Frustration in Arrays of Porphyrin Nanorings. Nature Communications, 10, Article 2932. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11009-y

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 13, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jul 3, 2019
• Publication Date: Jul 3, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jun 11, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2019
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Article Number: 2932
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11009-y
• Keywords: General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Physics and Astronomy; General Chemistry
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2171638
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11009-y
• Additional Information: Received: 21 February 2019; Accepted: 13 June 2019; First Online: 3 July 2019; : The authors declare no competing interests.
• Contract Date: Jun 11, 2019