Highly ordered LB films of DHAP : a donor acceptor substituted polyene

Abstract

The donor acceptor substituted polyene 5-(4-dihexadecylaminophenyl)-2-methyl-2,4-pentadienal (DHAP) is - due to its amphiphilic nature - a promising candidate for the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. The molecule was studied as a monolayer on a pure water surface under argon atmosphere. Monolayers and multilayers were transfered onto solid support. The films showed a high degree of order in the monolayer as well as in thick multilayers. LB films were investigated with polarisation dependent UV/VIS absorption spectroscopy. The film spectra showed additional absorption peaks which were not present in the spectra of the molecules in solution. The relative peak intensities were highly dependent on the orientation of the electric field vector with respect to the substrate normal. To get a detailed picture of the arrangement of the films on the molecular level, we studied the polarisation dependence of the FTIR spectra in different experimental set-ups. The spectra showed a perpendicular orientation of the conjugated system with respect to the substrate, whereas the backbone of the saturated hydrocarbon chains showed a medium tilt angle of 20.0° with respect to the substrate normal. X-ray small angle diffraction measurements were applied to investigate the thickness of the LB layers. From the position of the Bragg peaks, a thickness of 5.45 nm per bilayer can be calculated, in agreement with a bilayer model showing different molecular alignment of the molecules transferred during upstroke and downstroke.