Unimolecular electronics

Use of heterocycles, in particular tetrathiafulvalenes andpyridinium zwitterions, in unimolecular electronic devices 99ACR950. 

Most interest focuses on very fast reactions. This includes systems whose mean reaction times range from roughly 1 minute to 10 14 second. Reactions that involve bond making or breaking are not likely to occur in less than 10 13 second, since this is the scale of molecular vibrations. Some unimolecular electron transfer events may, however, occur more rapidly. 

Keywords Bottom-up Carbon nanomaterials Molecular conductance Molecular electronics Unimolecular electronic devices... 

Since molecules can be very small (0.5-3 nm in length), unimolecular electronics (UE) may allow the ultimate reduction in scale of present-day Si-based inorganic electronics [108]. Four points must be considered. 

For now, unimolecular electronic devices must be tested with inorganic electrodes, thinned out to atomic or oligoatomic sharp tips. Molecules either singly, or in parallel as a monolayer array (one molecule thick), have been shown to be either passive or active electronic components. There are two ways to connect a molecule to an inorganic metal electrode physisorption, and chemisorption. 

Unimolecular electron transfer of the salt bridge associated donor-acceptor pair. 

R. M. Metzger, Unimolecular Electronics and unimolecular rectifiers in the Encyclopedia of Supramolecular Chemistry, J. L. Atwood, J. W. Steed (Eds.), Marcel Dekker, New York,... 

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