On the shuttling mechanism of a chlorine atom in a chloroaluminum phthalocyanine based molecular switch

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2017 Aug 23;19(33):22401-22405. doi: 10.1039/c7cp03153j.

Abstract

An intermediate shuttling structure of a chloroaluminum phthalocyanine(ClAlPc)-based molecular switch is transiently created and analyzed by combined scanning tunneling microcopy/spectroscopy and density-functional theory calculations, which suggests that the Cl atom is squeezed into the space between the central Al atom and the inner N-containing ring in ClAlPc.