Due to the length of the alkane chains, these disulfides form very strong and highly ordered hydrophobic SAMs (C. D. Bain, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1989, 111, 7155; S. R. Holmes-Farley, Langmuir 1988, 4, 921). The disulfide linkage breaks upon self-assembly to give virtually identical SAMs as those formed from 1-hexadecanethiol, except self-assembly occurs at a slower rate (A. Ulman, Chem. Rev. 1996, 96, 1533; L. H. Dubois, et al., Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 1992, 43, 437).