Zeitschriftenaufsätze

Porphyrin molecules are ubiquitous and play an important role in chemical and biological processes. Their wide panoply of functions may be controlled by modifying their peripheral substituents. Electron injection from the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope into single 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-bromophenyl)-porphyrin-cobalt molecules adsorbed to Ag(111) was used to controllably remove Br atoms from the molecule periphery. Spectroscopy of the differential conductance, together with density functional calculations, assign spectral features to the spectroscopic signatures of molecular frontier orbitals. Different molecular orbitals are visible in the spectra of intact and dehalogenated molecules. These findings combine single-molecule chemistry with a characterization of each product's electronic structure.