Investigation of Organic Metal Complex Adsorbates

Abstract

Alizarin is a natural organic compound which occurs mainly as an Anthraquinone glycoside in plants. Alizarin tends to form metal chelate complexes, which are used as natural pigments since ancient times. One of the earliest known complexes is the Calcium Aluminium Complex of Alizarin (ACaAl), first used as a pigment in India. Organic Solid/Solid Wetting Deposition (OSWD) enables to deposit insoluble molecules such as organic pigments and semiconductors on substrate surfaces under ambient conditions. The technique enables to grow monolayers of insoluble organic molecules without the need for vacuum conditions (as in the case of Molecular Beam Epitaxy) or chemical modifications (to achieve solubility). We explore the potential of OSWD to grow and manipulate monolayers of biomolecules and their chelates on graphite and use Alizarin as a model system. We use for investigation STM, TS and Molecular Modelling. In the present work attempt has been made to figure out the importance of organic metal complexes as semiconductors for organic electronics. The basic motivation came from the desire to potentially combine OSWD with the bio-organic molecular systems such as Alizarin/ACaAl for applications within the context of NanoBioTechnology and the urge to adsorb and self-assemble biomolecules on mineral surfaces under ambient conditions without the need for solubility. The goal was not only to increase the tool box that could be given to the industry for organic electronics or to the medical field as a chelate for chelation therapy, but also to make the area of research more simpler and economical in general .