Ultrahigh vacuum study on the reactivity of organic surfaces terminated by -OH and –COOH groups prepared by self-assembly of functionalized alkanethiols on Au substrates

Two different organic surfaces were created by self-assembly (SA) of bifunctionalized monomers using OH- and COOH-terminated alkanethiols. X-ray photoelectron (XP) and soft X-ray absorption (NEXAFS) spectroscopy have been used to determine the chemical composition of and the molecular orientation in the SA monolayers adsorbed on Au substrates. Subsequently the two OH- and COOH-terminated organic surfaces were exposed to phenyl isocyanate (C6H5NCO, PIC) in order to investigate their chemical reactivity. In both cases the reactivity to gas-phase PIC was very low for the sample at room temperature. Reaction yields of more than 80% could, however, be achieved by depositing multilayers on a sample cooled down to 120 K which was subsequently warmed to 290 K