Infrared spectroscopic study of the chemical displacement of hydrocarbon monolayers from a Cu(100) surface

Recent studies have demonstrated that the chemical displacement of adsorbed molecules from solid surfaces is often quite facile at low temperatures where the rate of displacement is faster than the rate at which the displaced molecules desorb from the multilayer. In the present work, infrared spectroscopy is applied to monitor the chemical displacement of a cyclohexane monolayer from a Cu(100) surface by cyclohexene-d10. The results show that displacement occurs readily at 110 K, which is the expected result if thermodynamic equilibrium is achieved in this system.