Electronic decay constant of carotenoid polyenes from single-molecule measurements

Jin He, Fan Chen, Jun Li, Otto F. Sankey, Yuichi Terazono, Christian Herrero, Devens Gust, Thomas Moore, Ana Moore, Stuart Lindsay

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

167 Scopus citations

Abstract

The conductance of carotenoid polyenes chemically bound at each end to gold contacts has been measured for single molecules containing 5, 7, 9, and 11 carbon-carbon double bonds in conjugation. The electronic decay constant, β, is determined to be 0.22 ± 0.04 Å-1, in close agreement with the value obtained from first principles simulations (0.22 ± 0.01 Å-1). The absolute values of the molecular conductance are within a factor of 3 of those calculated from first principles. The small value of β demonstrates that conductivity drops off only slowly with chain length, confirming that carotenoid conjugated chains are relatively good molecular "wires".

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1384-1385
Number of pages2
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume127
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 9 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • General Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Colloid and Surface Chemistry

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