Hydrogen-bonded Chains Research Articles

Nanotechnology-based approaches for targeting and delivery of drugs via Hexakis (m-PE) macrocycles

Hexakis (m-phenylene ethynylene) (m-PE) macrocycles, with aromatic backbones and multiple hydrogen-bonding side chains, had a very high propensity to self-assemble via H-bond and π–π stacking interactions to form nanotubular structures with defined inner pores. Such stacking of rigid macrocycles is leading to novel applications that enable the researchers to explored mass transport in the sub-nanometer scale. Herein, we performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to examine the drug delivery performance of the hexakis dimer as a novel carrier for doxorubicin (DOX) agent in the chloroform and water solvents. Based on the DFT results, it is found that the adsorption of DOX on the carrier surface is typically physisorption with the adsorption strength values of − 115.14 and − 83.37 kJ/mol in outside and inside complexes, respectively, and so that the essence of the drug remains intact. The negative values of the binding energies for all complexes indicate the stability of the drug molecule inside and outside the carrier's cavities. The energy decomposition analysis (EDA) has also been performed and shown that the dispersion interaction has an essential role in stabilizing the drug-hexakis dimer complexes. To further explore the electronic properties of dox, the partial density of states (PDOS and TDOS) are calculated. The atom in molecules (AIM) and Becke surface (BS) methods are also analyzed to provide an inside view of the nature and strength of the H-bonding interactions in complexes. The obtained results indicate that in all studied complexes, H-bond formation is the driving force in the stabilization of these structures, and also chloroform solvent is more favorable than the water solution. Overall, our findings offer insightful information on the efficient utilization of hexakis dimer as drug delivery systems to deliver anti-cancer drugs.

First-Principles Grand-Canonical Simulations of Water Adsorption in Proton-Exchanged Zeolites

Water appears by design or as impurities in many important reactive systems. For those catalyzed by porous solid acids, such as widely used zeolites, experimentally quantifying the amount or elucidating the structure of adsorbed water clusters at reaction conditions is challenging, while computational studies (e.g., first-principles molecular dynamics simulations) often need to assume the loading to examine solvation effects. Here, we perform first-principles grand-canonical simulations to predict water adsorption to H-ZSM-5 zeolites under specified experimental conditions. Presampling with inexpensive force fields and a pool-based parallelization algorithm are used to improve simulation efficiency, while molecular dynamics is used to sample configurations involving hydronium species. We observe that H+ exchange dramatically increases the hydrophilicity of zeolite MFI and an appreciable amount of water is present at very low relative humidities. At all conditions examined, the zeolitic protons are found to dissociate readily from the surface basic sites and become mobile by participating in the hydrogen-bonded chains of adsorbed water molecules.

2-Amino-4-(4-chloro-1-ethyl-2,2-dioxo-1H-benzo[c][1,2]thia-zin-3-yl)-7,7-dimethyl-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetra-hydro-4H-chromene-3-carbo-nitrile: single-crystal X-ray diffraction study and Hirshfeld surface analysis.

In the title compound, C22H22ClN3O4S, which has potential non-steroidal anti-inflammatory activity, the benzo-thia-zine and cyclo-hexenone rings both adopt a distorted sofa conformation while the 4H-pyrane ring adopts a very flattened sofa conformation. The two bicyclic fragments are skewed to each other, with the dihedral angle between their least-squares planes being 72.8 (1)°. In the crystal, the mol-ecules form a hydrogen-bonded chain parallel to the a axis due to N-H⋯O and N-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds. Neighbouring chains are linked by C-H⋯N, C-H⋯O and π-π stacking inter-actions. Hirshfeld surface analysis was used to investigate the importance of the different types of inter-molecular inter-actions whose contributions are: H⋯H = 44.7%, O⋯H/H⋯O = 21.8%, N⋯H/H⋯N = 11.9%, C⋯H/H⋯C = 9.5%, Cl⋯H/H⋯Cl = 7.2%. Parts of the mol-ecule, viz. the phenyl ring and the ethyl side chain, are equally disordered over two sets of sites.

Protonation sites and hydrogen bonding in mono-hydrobromide salts of two N,4-diheteroaryl 2-aminothiazoles

The synthesis and structural characterization of N-(6-methoxypyridin-3-yl)-4-(pyridin-2-yl)thiazol-2-amine mono-hydrobromide monohydrate (3) and N-(6-methoxypyridin-3-yl)-4-(pyrazin-2-yl)thiazol-2-amine mono-hydrobromide 0.35 methanol solvate (4) are reported. The crystal structures of 3 (monoclinic, space group P21/n, Z = 4) and 4 (monoclinic, space group, C2/c, Z = 8) feature N,4-diheteroaryl 2-aminothiazoles showing similar molecular conformations but different sites of protonation and thus distinctly different intermolecular hydrogen bonding patterns. In 3, Namine–H⋯Br−, N+pyridine–H⋯Owater, and Owater–H⋯Br− hydrogen bonds link protonated N-(6-methoxypyridin-3-yl)-4-(pyridin-2-yl)thiazol-2-amine and water molecules and bromide anions into a three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded network, whereas intermolecular N+methoxypyridine–H⋯Npyrazine hydrogen bonds result in hydrogen-bonded zigzag chains of protonated N-(6-methoxypyridin-3-yl)-4-(pyrazin-2-yl)thiazol-2-amine molecules in 4.

Energy Barrier of Proton Transfer in 3d Transition Metal-Doped Boehmite

The crystal structure of boehmite contains a large number of hydrogen-bond chains, which are deemed proton-transfer channels that are essential for proton-exchange-membrane materials. The efficienc...

Exploring the Proton-Transfer Mechanism in Hv1 by Multi-Scale Simulations

The Hv1 proton channel is expressed in a broad range of eukaryotic cells, where its chief physiological role is to mediate proton efflux. Hv1 is a potential target for the development of drugs to treat human pathologies, including breast cancer and ischemic stroke. Similar to other voltage sensor (VS) domain-containing proteins, Hv1 gating is controlled by changes in membrane potential. The H+ permeation pathway in Hv1 is formed by an hourglass-shaped hydrated VS central crevice, with several conserved hydrophobic residues forming a central bottleneck region. Although specific residues have been identified as potential sites for proton transfer by explicit side chain ionization, almost all neutralizations of ‘selectivity filter’ residues D112, R211, and other highly conserved ‘gating-charge’ or ‘counter-charge’ residues have so far failed to abolish H+ currents on Hv1. An alternative H+ transfer mechanism, in which VS-resident water molecules form a water wire, has not been ruled out. To investigate structural constraints on possible water wire formation in Hv1 we conducted classical molecular dynamics simulations followed by mixed quantum-mechanics/molecular-mechanics (QM/MM) simulations on a new, experimentally constrained activated-state Hv1 model structure. The calculations will allow us to focus on how dynamics in the bottleneck region that envelops a D112-R211 salt bridge impact water and side chain hydrogen bond network structures, possible water wire formation, and energetic barriers to proton migration.

0D/1D organic ferroelectrics/multiferroics for ultrahigh density integration: Helical hydrogen-bonded chains, multi-mode switching, and proton synaptic transistors.

In recent years, room-temperature ferroelectricity has been experimentally confirmed in a series of two-dimensional (2D) materials. Theoretically, for isolated ferroelectricity in even lower dimensions such as 1D or 0D, the switching barriers may still ensure the room-temperature robustness for ultrahigh-density non-volatile memories, which has yet been scarcely explored. Here, we show ab initio designs of 0D/1D ferroelectrics/multiferroics based on functionalized transition-metal molecular sandwich nanowires (SNWs) with intriguing properties. Some functional groups such as -COOH will spontaneously form into robust threefold helical hydrogen-bonded chains around SNWs with considerable polarizations. Two modes of ferroelectric switching are revealed: when the ends of SNWs are not hydrogen-bonded, the polarizations can be reversed via ligand reorientation that will reform the hydrogen-bonded chains and alter their helicity; when both ends are hydrogen-bonded, the polarizations can be reversed via proton transfer without changing the helicity of chains. The combination of those two modes makes the system the smallest proton conductor with a moderate migration barrier, which is lower compared with many prevalent proton-conductors for higher mobility while still ensuring the robustness at ambient conditions. This desirable feature can be utilized for constructing nanoscale artificial ionic synapses that may enable neuromorphic computing. In such a design of synaptic transistors, the migration of protons through those chains can be controlled and continuously change the conductance of MXene-based post-neuron for nonvolatile multilevel resistance. The success of mimicking synaptic functions will make such designs promising in future high-density artificial neutral systems.

Chemical Design and Physical Properties of Dynamic Molecular Assemblies

Abstract The thermally activated motional freedom of protons (H+), ions (M+), and molecules can be controlled using supramolecular approaches. In single crystals, motional freedom is enabled because of the small size of H+ and M+ (e.g., Li+ and Na+), and the thermally activated motion of small molecular units can yield molecular rotator structures in electrically conducting and magnetic crystals. The design of hydrogen-bonded networks and rotator–stator structures is a rational method to form functional dynamic molecular assemblies, and the thermally activated motional freedom of alkylamide (–CONHCnH2n+1) chains in discotic hexagonal columnar (Colh) and lamellar (La) liquid crystal phases enables the dipole inversion of polar N–H⋯O= hydrogen-bonded chains, enabling a ferroelectric response to an applied external electric field. The thermally activated rotational freedom of neutral radicals in plastic crystals results in multifunctional dielectric, magnetic, and optical properties at the order–disorder phase transition. In hydrogen-bonded host–guest molecular crystals, dynamic structural transformations are coupled with highly reversibly guest adsorption–desorption in the crystalline state. Further, changes in the fluorescence colour of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) systems can be exploited for solid-state molecular sensing, in which both dynamic molecular rotation and conformational transformations drastically affect the fluorescent responses.

Turning Rubber into a Glass: Mechanical Reinforcement by Microphase Separation.

Supramolecular associations provide a promising route to functional materials with properties such as self-healing, easy recyclability or extraordinary mechanical strength and toughness. The latter benefit especially from the transient character of the formed network, which enables dissipation of energy as well as regeneration of the internal structures. However, recent investigations revealed intrinsic limitations in the achievable mechanical enhancement. This manuscript presents studies of a set of telechelic polymers with hydrogen-bonding chain ends exhibiting an extraordinarily high, almost glass-like, rubbery plateau. This is ascribed to the segregation of the associative ends into clusters and formation of an interfacial layer surrounding these clusters. An approach adopted from the field of polymer nanocomposites provides a quantitative description of the data and reveals the strongly altered mechanical properties of the polymer in the interfacial layer. These results demonstrate how employing phase separating dynamic bonds can lead to the creation of high-performance materials.

Large polarization and record-high performance of energy storage induced by a phase change in organic molecular crystals.

Dielectrics that undergo electric-field-induced phase changes are promising for use as high-power electrical energy storage materials and transducers. We demonstrate the stepwise on/off switching of large polarization in a series of dielectrics by flipping their antipolar or canted electric dipoles via proton transfer and inducing simultaneous geometric changes in their π-conjugation system. Among antiferroelectric organic molecular crystals, the largest-magnitude polarization jump was obtained as 18 μC cm−2 through revisited measurements of squaric acid (SQA) crystals with improved dielectric strength. The second-best polarization jump of 15.1 μC cm−2 was achieved with a newly discovered antiferroelectric, furan-3,4-dicarboxylic acid. The field-induced dielectric phase changes show rich variations in their mechanisms. The quadruple polarization hysteresis loop observed for a 3-(4-chlorophenyl)propiolic acid crystal was caused by a two-step phase transition with moderate polarization jumps. The ferroelectric 2-phenylmalondialdehyde single crystal having canted dipoles behaved as an amphoteric dielectric, exhibiting a single or double polarization hysteresis loop depending on the direction of the external field. The magnitude of a series of observed polarizations was consistently reproduced within the simplest sublattice model by the density functional theory calculations of dipole moments flipping over a hydrogen-bonded chain or sheet (sublattice) irrespective of compounds. This finding guarantees a tool that will deepen our understanding of the microscopic phase-change mechanisms and accelerate the materials design and exploration for improving energy-storage performance. The excellent energy-storage performance of SQA was demonstrated by both a high recoverable energy-storage density Wr of 3.3 J cm−3 and a nearly ideal efficiency (90%). Because of the low crystal density, the corresponding energy density per mass (1.75 J g−1) exceeded those derived from the highest Wr values (∼8–11 J cm−3) reported for several bulk antiferroelectric ceramics , without modification to relaxor forms.

Exceptionally high temperature spin crossover in amide-functionalised 2,6-bis(pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine iron(ii) complex revealed by variable temperature Raman spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction.

The synthesis of a novel amide-functionalised 2,6-bis(pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine-4-carboxamide ligand (bppCONH2) is described. The complex salts [Fe(bppCONH2)2](BF4)2 and [Fe(bppCONH2)2](ClO4)2 were synthesised and characterised by SQUID magnetometry, differential scanning calorimetry, variable temperature Raman spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction. DSC measurements of [Fe(bppCONH2)2](BF4)2 indicate a spin-crossover (SCO) transition with T↑ at 481 K and T↓ at 461 K, showing a 20 K hysteresis. DSC for the perchlorate salt shows an SCO transition with T↑ at 459 K and T↓ at 445 K with a 14 K hysteresis. For the BF4- salt analysis of low and high-spin state crystal structures at 101, 290 and 500 K, suggest stabilisation of the low spin state due to the formation of 1D hydrogen-bonded cationic chains. Variable temperature Raman studies of the BF4 salt support the presence of a high temperature SCO. It is speculated that the presence of hysteresis may be attributed to differences in the inter-molecular hydrogen bonding in the low spin and high spin states.

Single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformations among three Mn-MOFs containing different water molecules induced by reaction time: crystal structures and proton conductivities.

Three Mn-MOFs {[Mn3(μ4-L)2(H2O)7]·4H2O}n (1), {[Mn3(μ5-L)2(H2O)6]·4H2O}n (2) and {[Mn3(μ7-L)2(H2O)2]}n (3) (H3L = 5-(6-carboxypyridin-3-yl)isophthalic acid) were obtained under different reaction times and temperatures. Interestingly, induced by reaction time, compound 1 can lose one water molecule and SC-SC transform into compound 2. Similarly, compound 2 can also SC-SC transform into 3. Studies on two SC-SC transformation processes were carried out and the transformation mechanisms were deduced, which were verified by TG analyses. Different numbers of water molecules in the three compounds resulted in different coordination environments of the metal cation, coordination modes of the L3- ligand, continuities of hydrogen bonds, dimensions of framework and porosities. The AC impendence spectra studies revealed that compounds 1-3 can enhance the proton conductivities of the Nafion composite membrane to about 47.77%, 36.88% and 21.28%, respectively. It is speculated that the highest proton conductivity of compound 1 may be due to its continuous hydrogen bond chain and highest water uptake, which were mainly decided by the number of water molecules.

Isolation and crystal structure of lawinal.

The structure of the natural product lawinal [systematic name: (-)-(2S)-5,7-dihy-droxy-6-methyl-4-oxo-2-phenyl-chromane-8-carbaldehyde, C17H14O5] at 150 K is reported. The compound crystallizes with monoclinic (I2) symmetry and with Z' = 2. The absolute configuration could not be determined reliably from X-ray analysis only. However, our analysis returns the S-configuration at the C-2 position, consistent with previous stereochemical assignment from specific rotation. The independent mol-ecules form into alternating hydrogen-bonded chains with C-H⋯O=CH inter-molecular linkages that run parallel to the crystallographic a axis and are extended into the ac plane by π-π inter-actions between their phenyl substituents.

Dipole fluctuation and structural phase transition in hydrogen-bonding molecular assemblies of mononuclear CuII complexes with polar fluorobenzoate ligands.

A series of mononuclear CuII complexes, [CuII(4-FBA)2(py)2(H2O)] (1), [CuII(3-FBA)2(py)2(H2O)] (2), and [CuII(3,4-F2BA)2(py)2(H2O)] (3), where 4-FBA = 4-fluorobenzoate, 3-FBA = 3-fluorobenzoate, 3,4-F2BA = 3,4-difluorobenzoate, and py = pyridine, respectively, was synthesized and the complexes crystallographically identified. All the CuII complex crystals share a one-dimensional O-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding chain substructure, although the mutual alignment of fluorinated benzoate (FxBA) ligands exhibits subtle differences among the various compounds, i.e., FxBA ligands align in an antiparallel fashion in crystals 1 and 3, while 3-FBA ligands in crystal 2 are interdigitated with a tilt along the a axis. Reversible phase transitions were found upon heating at 170.7, 171.3, and 267.5 K for crystals 1, 2, and 3, respectively; all crystals showed approximately 3% expansion and shrinkage of the intermolecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bond distances associated with the thermally activated orientational fluctuations of the FxBA ligands in crystals 1 and 3. The increase in dielectric constant with increasing temperature, at 240 K, activated molecular fluctuation in the 3,4-F2BA ligands in crystal 3. Heat capacity measurements indicated that both the expansion and shrinkage of hydrogen bonds, and the molecular fluctuation in 3,4-F2BA ligands, contributed to phase transition, and the latter caused dipole fluctuation, resulting in a dielectric anomaly in crystal 3.

Hydroxygraphene: Dynamics of hydrogen bond networks

Using the molecular dynamics method, dynamics of hydrogen bond (HB) networks emerging on the surface of a graphene sheet during its functionalization with hydroxyl groups OH are simulated. It is demonstrated that two OH groups form an energetically more advantageous structure when they are covalently attached on one side of the sheet to carbon atoms forming opposite vertices of one hexagon of valence bonds of the sheet. Attaching of OH groups to carbon atoms located at the opposite vertices of hexagons of valence bonds leads to the emergence of hydroxygraphene C$_4$(OH). In such sheet lying on a flat substrate, attached oxygen atoms on its outer surface form a hexagonal lattice, and hydroxyl groups due to their turns can in various ways form chains of hydrogen bonds. The modification of the sheet from two sides results in forming of hydroxygraphene C$_2$(OH) with HB networks on both sides of the graphene sheet. Simulation of the dynamics of these sheets shows that their heat capacity at low temperatures $T<T_0$ increases monotonously when the temperature rises, reaches its maximum at $T=T_0$ and then decreases monotonically. The initial growth is caused by the accumulation of orientational defects in the lattice of hydrogen bonds whereas the decrease at $T>T_0$ is explained by the "melting" of the lattice. For one chain of OH groups connected to the outer side of a nanoribbon the melting temperature is $T_0=500$K, while for a graphene sheet C4(OH) modified on one side $T_0=260$K, and for a graphene sheet C$_2$(OH) modified on both sides $T_0=485$K.

Development of Coarse-Grained Models for Poly(4-vinylphenol) and Poly(2-vinylpyridine): Polymer Chemistries with Hydrogen Bonding.

In this paper, we identify the modifications needed in a recently developed generic coarse-grained (CG) model that captured directional interactions in polymers to specifically represent two exemplary hydrogen bonding polymer chemistries—poly(4-vinylphenol) and poly(2-vinylpyridine). We use atomistically observed monomer-level structures (e.g., bond, angle and torsion distribution) and chain structures (e.g., end-to-end distance distribution and persistence length) of poly(4-vinylphenol) and poly(2-vinylpyridine) in an explicitly represented good solvent (tetrahydrofuran) to identify the appropriate modifications in the generic CG model in implicit solvent. For both chemistries, the modified CG model is developed based on atomistic simulations of a single 24-mer chain. This modified CG model is then used to simulate longer (36-mer) and shorter (18-mer and 12-mer) chain lengths and compared against the corresponding atomistic simulation results. We find that with one to two simple modifications (e.g., incorporating intra-chain attraction, torsional constraint) to the generic CG model, we are able to reproduce atomistically observed bond, angle and torsion distributions, persistence length, and end-to-end distance distribution for chain lengths ranging from 12 to 36 monomers. We also show that this modified CG model, meant to reproduce atomistic structure, does not reproduce atomistically observed chain relaxation and hydrogen bond dynamics, as expected. Simulations with the modified CG model have significantly faster chain relaxation than atomistic simulations and slower decorrelation of formed hydrogen bonds than in atomistic simulations, with no apparent dependence on chain length.

Excited-State Dynamics Affected by Switching of a Hydrogen-Bond Network in Hydrated Aminopyrazine Clusters

The cluster structures of hydrated aminopyrazines, APz-(H2O)n=2-4, in supersonic jets have been investigated measuring the size-selected electronic and vibrational spectra and determined with the aid of quantum chemical calculations. The APz-(H2O)2 structure is assigned as a cyclic N1 type where a homodromic hydrogen-bond chain starts from the amino group and ends at the 1-position nitrogen atom of the pyrazine moiety, corresponding to 2-aminopyridine-(H2O)2. On the other hand, APz-(H2O)n=3,4 has a linear hydrogen-bond network ending at the 4-position one (N4), which resembles 3-aminopyridine-(H2O)n=3,4. The hydrogen-bond network switching from the N1 type to the N4 one provides the accompanying red shifts of the S1-S0 electronic transition that are entirely consistent with those of the corresponding 2-aminopyridine and 3-aminopyridine clusters and also shows the drastically strengthened fluorescence intensity of origin bands in the electronic spectrum. The significant change in the excited-state dynamics is explored by the fluorescence lifetime measurement and the time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculation. It is suggested that the drastic elongation of fluorescence lifetimes is due to the change in the electronic structure of the first excited state from nπ* to ππ*, resulting in the decreasing spin-orbit coupling to T1 (ππ*).

Hydrogen-Bonded One-Dimensional Chains of Quinacridone on Ag(100) and Cu(111): The Role of Chirality and Surface Bonding

The adsorption and ordering of the prochiral molecule quinacridone (QA) on the Ag(100) and Cu(111) surfaces were studied by low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy. Upon adsorption, the molecules form parallel homochiral chains of flat-lying molecules linked together via hydrogen bonds on both surfaces, but these chains show significant surface-dependent differences concerning their lateral order. On both substrates, the chains are not thermodynamically stable but only metastable and stabilized by kinetic barriers. On the Ag(100) surface, annealing induces a phase transition to a highly ordered and heterochiral structure with a reduced density of hydrogen bonds. The related loss of bonding energy is overcompensated by a stronger bonding to the substrate, yielding a commensurate structure. For QA on Ag(100), we propose that during the initial chain formation and the phase transition upon annealing, the molecules can change their handedness by rotating around their long axes. In contrast, the initial chain formation and the phase transitions of QA on the Cu(111) surface appear to be subject to stronger kinetic limitations. These are explained by stronger substrate molecule interactions on Cu(111), which reduce the diffusion and the possibility for a change of handedness in comparison to QA on Ag(100). We discuss how the intermolecular hydrogen bonds, the 2D chirality, and the different chemical reactivities of the two surfaces [Ag(100) and Cu(111)] influence the structural formation of QA aggregates. We compare our results to the results for QA on Ag(111) reported previously by Wagner et al. [JPCC 2014, 118, 10911-10920].

Crystal structure of hyoscyamine sulfate monohydrate, (C17H24NO3)2(SO4)(H2O)

The crystal structure of hyoscyamine sulfate monohydrate has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional techniques. Hyoscyamine sulfate monohydrate crystallizes in space group P21 (#4) with a = 6.60196(2), b = 12.95496(3), c = 20.93090(8) Å, β = 94.8839(2)°, V = 1783.680(5) Å3, and Z = 2. Despite the traditional description as a dihydrate, hyoscyamine sulfate crystallizes as a monohydrate. The two independent hyoscyamine cations have different conformations, which have similar energies. One of the cations is close to the minimum-energy conformation. Each of the protonated nitrogen atoms in the cations acts as a donor to the sulfate anion. The hydroxyl group of one cation acts as a donor to the sulfate anion, while the hydroxyl group of the other cation acts as a donor to the water molecule. The water molecule acts as a donor to two different sulfate anions. The cations and anions are linked by complex chains of hydrogen bonds along the a-axis. The powder pattern has been submitted for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™ (PDF®).

Quasi-One-Dimensional Free-Electron-Like States Selected by Intermolecular Hydrogen Bonds at the Glycine/Cu(100) Interface* *Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11622437, 11804247, 61674171, and 11974422), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (Grant Nos. 19XNQ025 and 19XNH066), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese

We carry out ab initio density functional theory calculations to study manipulation of electronic structures of self-assembled molecular nanostructures on metal surfaces by investigating the geometric and electronic properties of glycine molecules on Cu(100). It is shown that a glycine monolayer on Cu(100) forms a two-dimensional hydrogen-bonding network between the carboxyl and amino groups of glycine using a first principles atomistic calculation on the basis of a recently found structure. This network includes at least two hydrogen-bonding chains oriented roughly perpendicular to each other. Through molecule–metal electronic hybridization, these two chains selectively hybridized with the two isotropic degenerate Cu(100) surface states, leading to two anisotropic quasi-one-dimensional surface states. Electrons occupying these two states can near-freely move from a molecule to its adjacent molecules directly through the intermolecular hydrogen bonds, rather than mediated by the substrate. This results in the experimentally observed anisotropic free-electron-like behavior. Our results suggest that hydrogen-bonding chains are likely candidates for charge conductors.