The surface structures of crystals based on aromatic oxadiazoles were investigated by AFM. The crystal structure for 2,5-di(p-tolyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (DTO) differs from that of 2,5-di (4-methoxycarbonyl-phenyl)-1,3,4- oxadiazole (DMPO). In DMPO all molecules show parallel orientation to the surface in such a way that the surface is formed as well as by the nitrogen atoms of the heterocyclic rings and the methyl groups of the ester substituents. By contrast, the oxadiazole molecules in DTO crystals are oriented perpendicular to the crystal surface. The experimental data are interpreted by molecular modelling. It is shown that there is a difference between molecular structure of the surface, as detected by AFM, and the bulk structure determined by X-ray diffraction.
The search for alternative routes of organic thin film formation is stimulated by the outstanding properties of these films in such fields as nonlinear optics, photonic data processing and molecular electronics. The formation of highly ordered multilayer structures by thermal vacuum deposition (VD) of organic compounds is an essential step toward the application of supramolecular organic architectures in technical systems. The VD of an amphiphilic substituted 2,5- diphenylene-1,3,4-oxadiazole 1 onto silicon substrates at defined temperature was used for the formation of ultrathin films. The structural data obtained for the VD-films of oxadiazole 1 by means of X-ray reflectivity, X-ray grazing incidence diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigations indicate the formation of well ordered oxadiazole multilayers. The structure of the VD-multilayers is compared with that of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films and thermally treated LB-multilayers prepared from the same compound.
The molecular structure of poly(p-phenylene-1,3,4-oxadiazole) (POD) is investigated using i.r. and Raman spectroscopy. Both methods reveal characteristic differences for the a- and b-POD forms that are most obvious in the spectral region between 1500 and 1650 cm-1. The spectra for dimer and tetramer compounds already show the same features as found for longer chains. Based on molecular modelling calculations these differences are assigned to cis and trans conformations of the main chain segments. High pressure measurements show a linear shift of the Raman lines and support the result of the thermodynamic stability of the trans conformation.