In this contribution, monolayers of a partially fluorinated alkyl chains have been self-assembled on electroplated copper oxide. The molecules bear the following reactive groups: thiol (R-SH), disulfide (R-S-S-R), selenol (R-SeH) and diselenide (R-Se-Se-R), where R = F3C-(CF2)(3)-(CH2)(11)- Spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques have been used to characterise the surface composition and the monolayer organisation. All molecules have been shown to form monolayers of good quality except for the disulficle which leads to poor adsorption. While the copper oxide film is easily reduced by thiol, selenol and diselenide, this is less evident for disulficle. Additional to the anchoring group, the structure of the molecule is also found to have a determinant effect. The stability of the resulting molecular film and the copper protection efficiency ability is in close relation with the molecule structure and the interface stability. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.