The self-assembly of a layered material: metal-alkanethiolate bilayers

Layered materials composed of metal-alkanethiolate units have been synthesized and characterized.The selfassembly occurs at the interface between a metal-ion-containing aqueous phase and an alkanethiol-containing organic phase.Key features of the structure have been determined from X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy measurements.The highly ordered bilayers are characterized by tilted, all-trans alkyl chains.A new model for the inplane structure has been presented, which is based on a hexagonal arrangement of metal atoms in the central plane.