Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is studied on Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). We find that DES molecules on the silver surface adsorb intact and adopt a trans-conformation. On the more reactive copper surface, O–H bond cleavage results in molecular adsorption in the cis-conformation, thus providing the means of obtaining different adsorption geometries. The difference in isomerism is reflected in the observed self-assemblies which exhibit room-temperature stability.