The Influence of External Stress on the Molecular Order of Monolayer Assemblies

Monolayer assemblies of molecules offer chemists an intriguing system for study. In addition to the variety of possible applications ranging from chemical sensing to corrosion inhibition, the structured simplicity of these two-dimensional arrays makes possible more accurate predictions of molecular behavior. Thus, these well-ordered systems present a unique opportunity to correlate theoretical predictions of molecular- scale structure to experimental measurements. These correlations are of particular importance in understanding the response of molecular arrays to external perturbations. Although a number of physical and chemical sources of external stress are possible, initial studies presented here will focus on the influence of temperature on the molecular-scale order.