To further explore if Br…F-BF interaction could influence the self-assembly of CJF molecules, we observed the self-assembly structure of 2Br-CJF molecules with STM. The same with CJF molecules, a droplet of the 2Br-CJF solution in 1-phenyloctane was deposited on the freshly cleaved HOPG. Then the large-scale structure was detected by STM (Fig. S16b in Supporting information). Due to the similar molecular structure with CJF, the 2Br-CJF molecules formed a similar self-assembly pattern with CJF molecules. Each H-like bright spot corresponded to a 2Br-CJF molecule, and dimers composed of two 2Br-CJF molecules self-assembled into regular zig-zag lines on the HOPG surface. However, after detecting the high-resolution STM image (
Fig. 2a), we can clearly distinguish some different details of 2Br-CJF's self-assembly structure from CJF's. First of all, the measured cell parameters were:
a = 2.3 ± 0.1 nm,
b = 3.6 ± 0.1 nm,
γ = 119° ± 2° (
Table 1). The differences in cell parameters indicated that the driven force may be different in the 2Br-CJF self-assembly structure. Except for the
π-
π interactions we mentioned above, the halogen…halogen interactions between Br atoms and F atoms of BF
2 groups also affected 2Br-CJF's self-assembly structure. A pair of Br…F-BF interactions exist between the Br atoms of 4-bromophenyls and the F atoms of BF
2 groups on two adjacent molecules. The BF
2 group is an electron-deficient group, and the Br atom has a lone electron pair. So, in two 2Br-CJF molecules, there are two antiparallel Br…F-BF interactions. One is formed by one F atom of the BF
2 group on the first 2Br-CJF molecule and one Br atom on the second 2Br-CJF molecule. Another one is formed by the Br atom of the first 2Br-CJF molecule and one F atom of the BF
2 group on the second2Br-CJF molecule. Next, we measured the angle in the zig-zag lines (
α, Marked with blue lines in
Figs. 1a and
2a). In the CJF self-assembly structures, the angle
α was measured to be 114° ± 2°. While in the self-assembly structure of 2Br-CJF, the angle
α was measured to be 104° ± 2°. The smaller angle of the zig-zag lines indicated that the phenyl group of a 2Br-CJF molecule was closer to the axis of symmetry of another 2Br-CJF molecule. This further demonstrated that the Br…F-BF interaction has changed the self-assembly structure of the aza-BODIPY molecules.