SAMs based on a novel dendron-thiol system, which maintain the alkanethiols' active site, but with the -SH group connected to independently variable groups by a dendron-linker, showed a controllable surface pattern and wetting properties. The precisely tailored structure of dendron-thiols with locally controlled hydrophobic and hydrophilic peripheries allows the formation of designed surface structures on a gold surface, e.g. nano-stripes, honeycomb and homogeneous structures.