ABSTRACT
The goal of constructing stable organic molecular architectures with desired properties that modify surfaces independent from their bulk characteristics is of fundamental interest in many areas. Organic chemists have made significant progress over recent years in designing and constructing molecules that have certain desired physical and chemical properties. Assembling such molecules onto surfaces, as well as characterizing and studying the resulting layers, lies at the centre of interest in many laboratories, and a variety of techniques have been employed in order to reach this goal. Ultrathin and especially monomolecular organic films with a high degree of order are of special interest since they open up new fields of research and could establish an organic counterpart to inorganic crystals. Such films play an important role not only in fundamental science, where they often serve as model systems (e.g. for polymers) but also in applied sciences, where they are employed as corrosion inhibitors, lubricants, adhesion promoters and in biosensors, as well as in many other applications.
