| Abstract | Dative bonding of nitrogen-containing heterocycles offers a strategy for the controlled attachment of aromatic molecules to silicon surfaces. However, while scanning tunneling microscopy shows that pyridine on clean Si(100) initially binds via a dative bonding configuration, slow conversion to a more stable bridging state, destroying the aromaticity, is observed. To restrict adsorption to the dative bonded form, we investigated the interaction of pyridine with isolated reactive sites on partially H-terminated Si(100). While dative bonding on isolated clean dimers is observed, single dangling bonds remain unreacted. This selectivity can be accounted for by the ability of the Si-Si dimers to act as electron acceptors that stabilize the dative bonded species. This observation has important implications for the controlled positioning of single molecules on silicon via dative bonding. |
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