The flexibility of COC and relatively small energetic differences will probably lead to a thermodynamic equilibrium with both states being present after functionalization. There are other effects, such as steering effects from already adsorbed molecules similar to COC on Si(001), which could shift the equilibrium to higher selectivity for 6-4. Additionally, experimental strategies could be applied to influence the electronic structure of BPN to further improve reactivity and selectivity of the adsorption, such as ionization of BPN, to make the 4-rings more electropositive or electronically excite the material to mitigate the clashing of occupied orbital phases (Figure ), since the virtual orbitals (Figure -f) are in phase with 6-4 and out of phase with 8-4.