Solution phase post-modification of a trimesic acid network on Au(111) with Zn(2+) ions.

Solution phase post-modification of a trimesic acid (TMA) network on Au(111) with Zn(2+) ions was found to induce transformation of a bar-featured scanning tunneling microscopy image of (5√3 × 5√3) to a chevron-pair image of (10√3 × 10√3). Voltammetric determination of Zn coverage in the modified TMA network supports the fact that the chevron feature consists of three TMA molecules combined via two coordination bonds between Zn(2+) ions and carboxylates of TMA.