Directing On‐Surface Reaction Pathways via Metal‐Organic Cu−N Coordination

Abstract We demonstrate an enhancement of cyclization against polymerization for the on‐surface debrominative coupling reaction, by using the metal‐organic Cu−N coordination template to direct the reaction pathways. Experiments performed by using ultrahigh‐vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (UHV‐STM), with the substitution of metal‐coordination centers, metallic substrates and functional organic ligands, corroborate the template effect of the Cu−N coordination.