Portraits of Soot Molecules Reveal Pathways to Large Aromatics, Five-/Seven-Membered Rings, and Inception through π-Radical Localization.

ABSTRACT: Incipient soot early in the flame was studied by high-resolution atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy to resolve the atomic structure and orbital densities of single soot molecules prepared on bilayer NaCl on Cu(111). We resolved extended catacondensed and pentagonal-ring linked (pentalinked) species indicating how small aromatics cross-link and cyclodehydrogenate to form moderately sized aromatics. In addition, we resolved embedded pentagonal and heptagonal rings in flame aromatics. These nonhexagonal rings suggest simultaneous growth through aromatic cross-linking/cyclodehydrogenation and hydrogen abstraction acetylene addition. Moreover, we observed three classes of open-shell π-radical species. First, radicals with an unpaired π-electron delocalized along the molec

SUBMITTER: Lieske LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10373522 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature