Movement of molecules into a defined arrangement without outside influence
AFM image of napthalenetetracarboxylic diimide molecules on silver interacting via hydrogen bonding at 77 K.[1] ("Hydrogen bonds" in the top image are exaggerated by artifacts of the imaging technique.[2][3])NC-AFM imaging of the molecular self-assembly process of 2-aminoterephthalic acid molecules on calcite(104).[4]
STM image of self-assembled Br4-pyrene molecules on Au(111) surface (top) and its model (bottom; pink spheres are Br atoms).[5]
In chemistry and materials science, molecular self-assembly is the process by which molecules adopt a defined arrangement without guidance or management from an outside source. There are two types of self-assembly: intermolecular and intramolecular. Commonly, the term molecular self-assembly refers to the former, while the latter is more commonly called folding.