Anchoring of organic molecules to a metal surface: HtBDC on Cu(110)

The interaction of largish molecules with metal surfaces has been studied by combining the imaging and manipulation capabilities of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). At the atomic scale, the STM results directly reveal that the adsorption of a largish organic molecule can induce a restructuring of a metal surface underneath. This restructuring anchors the molecules on the substrate and is the driving force for a self-assembly process of the molecules into characteristic molecular double rows.