Unusual Scaffold Rearrangement in Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons Driven by Concerted Action of Single Gold Atoms on a Gold Surface
2022
Abstract
Chemical transformation of polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules following different reaction strategies has always been the focus of organic synthesis. In this work, we report the synthesis of a PAH molecule, formation of which consists of an unusual C-C bond cleavage accompanied by a complex pi-conjugated molecular scaffold rearrangement.
We demonstrate that the complex chemical transformation is steered by concerted motion of individual Au(0) gold atoms on a supporting Au(111) surface. This observation underpins the importance of single-atom catalysis mediated by adatoms in on-surface synthesis as well as catalytic activity of single Au(0) atoms facilitating cleavage of covalent carbon bonds.