Abstract: Metal-coordinated compounds with well-defined shapes and abundant functionalities are ideal building blocks for constructing functional nanostructures. These types of compounds have been widely used in various fields such as catalysis as well as sensor and nanodevice fabrication. Recently, our group has systematically investigated the self-assembly of metal-coordinated compounds on solid surfaces by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Functional molecular nanostructures were constructed based on direct observations of ligands and complex molecules at sub-molecular or molecular resolutions. This paper summarizes results from the self-assembly of metal-coordinated compounds as reported by our group as well as some recent progress in this field. It is expected that this review paper will be helpful for the exploration of assembly rules of metal-coordinated compounds on solid surfaces.

Key words: Metal-coordinated compound, Self-assembly, Nanostructure, Scanning tunneling microscopy