Imaging of a molecular wheelbarrow by scanning tunneling microscopy

We have studied the deposition and imaging of nanoscale molecular wheelbarrows. These molecules integrate-in analogy to macroscopic barrows-two wheels, legs and handles along a polyaromatic platform and were imaged on a clean Cu(1 0 0) surface with a scanning tunneling microscope at 7 K. The obtained images are in accordance with calculations and are dominated by the wheels. Several stable conformations of the wheelbarrow were found and identified by comparison with calculated images.