Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Tang, Chun
• Stuyver, Thijs
• Lu, Taige
• Liu, Junyang
• Ye, Yiling
• Gao, Tengyang
• Lin, Luchun
• Zheng, Jueting
• Liu, Wenqing
• Shi, Jia
• Shaik, Sason
• Xia, Haiping
• Hong, Wenjing

Titel

Voltage-driven control of single-molecule keto-enol equilibrium in a two-terminal junction system

Ist Teil von

• Nature communications, 2023-06, Vol.14 (1), p.3657-3657, Article 3657

Ort / Verlag

England: Nature Publishing Group UK

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Keto-enol tautomerism, describing an equilibrium involving two tautomers with distinctive structures, provides a promising platform for modulating nanoscale charge transport. However, such equilibria are generally dominated by the keto form, while a high isomerization barrier limits the transformation to the enol form, suggesting a considerable challenge to control the tautomerism. Here, we achieve single-molecule control of a keto-enol equilibrium at room temperature by using a strategy that combines redox control and electric field modulation. Based on the control of charge injection in the single-molecule junction, we could access charged potential energy surfaces with opposite thermodynamic driving forces, i.e., exhibiting a preference for the conducting enol form, while the isomerization barrier is also significantly reduced. Thus, we could selectively obtain desired and stable tautomers, which leads to significant modulation of the single-molecule conductance. This work highlights the concept of single-molecule control of chemical reactions on more than one potential energy surface.