Trabajo presentado en la conferencia Fuerzas y Túnel (FyT2016), celebrada en Girona del 5 al 7 de septiembre de 2016.During the last decade, on-surface chemistry has experienced a significant development
driven by the necessity of finding novel tools for the fabrication of new (macro)molecular
structures with novel properties. Several synthetic reactions commonly used in traditional
solution-based chemistry have recently been applied to on-surface chemistry [1-3]. This
approach has allowed for the fabrication of novel structures with fascinating properties such
as metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks (COF) or graphene nanoribbons,
to name only some of them. However, there is still a wide variety of coupling reactions that
are well-known in solution-based chemistry but which have not yet been explored with
respect to on-surface chemistry. This is the case, for example, of the [2+2] cycloaddition for
the controlled formation of carbon tetragons.
In this talk, we will present the on-surface synthesis of 0D and 1D graphene-based
nanostructures via [2+2] cycloaddition of halogen-functionalized precursor monomers. For
this purpose, we have used aromatic precursors which have been functionalized at orthopositions,
a novel approach in on-surface reactions. We will show, by means of highresolution
scanning tunnelling microscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy, that
these precursor monomers afford the formation of carbon tetragons. Furthermore, we show
that the functionalization pattern of the precursor monomers allows for the selective formation
of either 0D or 1D nanostructures.N
