We present a novel approach toward carboxylate-terminated, low-density monolayers on
gold, which provides exceptional adsorbate stability and conformational freedom of
interfacial functional groups. Adsorbates are synthesized through the thiol-yne addition of
two thiol-containing head groups to an alkyne-containing tail group. The resulting
monolayers have two distinct phases: a highly crystalline head phase adjacent to the gold
substrate, and a reduced density tail phase, which is in contact with the environment. The …