The application of molecules in technological devices hinges on the proper understanding of their behavior on metallic electrodes or substrates. The intrinsic molecular electronic and magnetic properties are modified at a metallic interface, and greatly depend on the atomic configuration of the molecule-metal bond. This poses certain problems, such as the lack of reproducibility in the transport properties of molecular junctions, but also offers the possibility to induce new charge and spin configurations that are only present at the interface. The results presented in this thesis address this issue, providing a comprehensive overview of the influence of molecule-metal and molecule-molecule interactions on the electronic and magnetic properties of molecules adsorbed on metallic substrates. Using metal-phthalocyanines (MePc), a commonly used metal-organic complex as a model system, each chapter explores different aspects of the interaction with silver surfaces: the local adsorption geometry, self-assembly, the modifications of the electronic and magnetic characteristics due to hybridization and charge transfer, and finally the manipulation of molecular charge and spin states by electron doping using alkali atoms moved with the STM tip.

Ultrafast angle-resolved two-photon photoemission (TPPE) is used to probe the electronic structure of highly ordered monolayers of organic materials deposited on the Ag(111) and Ag(100) surfaces. Studies focus on how the electronic states intrinsic to the silver surface are perturbed by the presence of the organic adlayer. These studies show that the strength of the interaction between the surface states and the organic adlayer depends on the nature of the surface state being investigated. For states localized at or near the organic adlayer, substantial changes in the surface state band structure were discovered, whereas for states residing farther in the vacuum the surface state band structure was perturbed surprisingly little. The results presented here give detailed insight into the interaction between the electronic states of organic adlayers and the silver surface.

J.P. Dahl: Carl Johan Ballhausen (1926–2010).- J.R. Winkler and H.B. Gray: Electronic Structures of Oxo-Metal Ions.- C.D. Flint: Early Days in Kemisk Laboratorium IV and Later Studies.- J.H. Palmer: Transition Metal Corrole Coordination Chemistry. A Review Focusing on Electronic Structural Studies.- W.C. Trogler: Chemical Sensing with Semiconducting Metal Phthalocyanines.- K.M. Lancaster: Biological Outer-Sphere Coordination.- R.K. Hocking and E.I. Solomon: Ligand Field and Molecular Orbital Theories of Transition Metal X-ray Absorption Edge Transitions.- K.B. Møller and N.E. Henriksen: Time-resolved X-ray diffraction: The dynamics of the chemical bond.

Metal phthalocyanines are attracting significant attention, owing to their potential for applications in chemical sensors, solar cells and organic magnets. As the electronic properties of molecular films are determined by their crystallinity and molecular packing, the optimization of film quality is important for improving the performance of organic devices. Here, we present the results of in situ low-energy electron microscopy / photoemission electron microscopy (LEEM/PEEM) studies of incorporation-limited growth [1] of manganese-phthalocyanine (MnPc) on Ag(100) surfaces. MnPc thin films were grown on both, bulk Ag(100) surface and thin Ag(100)/Fe(100) films, where substrate spin-polarized electronic states can be modified through tuning the thickness of the Ag film [2]. We also discuss the electronic structure and magnetic ordering in MnPc thin films, investigated by angle- and spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

Imagine that a young physicist would approach a granting agen cy and propose to contribute to heterogeneous catalysis by studying the heat conductivity of gases in contact with a hot filament. How would he be received now? How would he have been treated sixty years ago ? Yet, more than sixty years ago, Irving Langmuir, through his study of heat transfer from a tungsten filament, uncovered most of the fundamental ideas which are used to-day by the scientific com munity in pure and applied heterogeneous catalysis. Through his work with what were for the first time "clean" metal surfaces, Langmuir formulated during a period of a little over ten years un til the early thirties, the concepts of chemisorption, monolayer, adsorption sites, adsorption isotherm, sticking probability, cata lytic mechanisms by way of the interaction between chemisorbed spe cies, behavior of non-uniform surfaces and repulsion between adsor bed dipoles. It is fair to say that many of these ideas constituting the first revolution in surface chemistry have since been refined through thousands of investigations. Countless papers have been pu blished on the subject of the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, the Langmuir catalytic kinetics and the Langmuir site-exclusion adsorp tion kinetics. The refinements have been significant. ThE original concepts in their primitive or amended form are used everyday by catalytic chemists and chemical engineers allover the world in their treatment of experimental data, design of reactors or inven tion of new processes.