Force Measurement for the Interaction between Cucurbit[7]uril and Mica and Self-Assembled Monolayer in the Presence of Zn Studied with Atomic Force Microscopy.

Force spectroscopy with atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) strongly binds to a mica surface in the presence of cations. Indeed, Zn was observed to facilitate the self-assembly of CB[7] on the mica surface, whereas monocations, such as Na, were less effective. The progression of the process and the cation-mediated self-assembled monolayer were characterized using AFM, and the observed height of the layer agrees well with the calculated CB[7] value (9.