“Water Strider” Legs with a Self-Assembled Coating of Single-Crystalline Nanowires of an Organic Semiconductor was written by Jiang, Lang;Yao, Xi;Li, Hongxiang;Fu, Yanyan;Chen, Li;Meng, Qing;Hu, Wenping;Jiang, Lei. And the article was included in Advanced Materials (Weinheim, Germany) in 2010.Synthetic Route of C18H10N2 This article mentions the following:
Superhydrophobic surfaces are reported composed of crystalline nanowires of an organic semiconductor. Model copper waterstriders weighing 259.6 mg with self-assembled crystalline nanowires on their legs can easily stand on the surface of water. 1.0 Mg of such organic crystalline nanowires assembled on the legs could maximum float a 372 mg model strider. In the experiment, the researchers used many compounds, for example, 2-(Anthracen-9-ylmethylene)malononitrile (cas: 55490-87-4Synthetic Route of C18H10N2).
2-(Anthracen-9-ylmethylene)malononitrile (cas: 55490-87-4) belongs to nitriles. Nitriles are polar, as indicated by high dipole moments. As liquids, they have high relative permittivities, often in the 30s. Nitrile groups in organic compounds can undergo a variety of reactions depending on the reactants or conditions. A nitrile group can be hydrolyzed, reduced, or ejected from a molecule as a cyanide ion.Synthetic Route of C18H10N2
Referemce:
Nitrile – Wikipedia,
Nitriles – Chemistry LibreTexts