Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Single-molecule level control of host-guest int...

Associated organisational unit

Electronic data

  • s41467-019-12534-6

    Final published version, 1.25 MB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Single-molecule level control of host-guest interactions in metallocycle-C60 complexes

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
  • Jian-Hong Tang
  • Yueqi Li
  • Qingqing Wu
  • Zixiao Wang
  • Songjun Hou
  • Kun Tang
  • Yue Sun
  • Hui Wang
  • Heng Wang
  • Cheng Lu
  • Xiang Wang
  • Xiaopeng Li
  • Dong Wang
  • Jiannian Yao
  • Colin Lambert
  • Nongjian Tao
  • Yu-Wu Zhong
  • Peter J. Stang
Close
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>10/10/2019
<mark>Journal</mark>Nature Communications
Issue number4599
Volume10
Number of pages9
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Host−guest interactions are of central importance in many biological and chemical processes. However, the investigation of the formation and decomplexation of host−guest systems at the single-molecule level has been a challenging task. Here we show that the single-molecule conductance of organoplatinum(II) metallocycle hosts can be enhanced by an order of magnitude by the incorporation of a C60 guest molecule. Mechanically stretching the metallocycle-C60 junction with a scanning tunneling microscopy break junction technique causes the release of the C60 guest from the metallocycle, and consequently the conductance switches back to the free-host level. Metallocycle hosts with different shapes and cavity sizes show different degrees of flexibility to accommodate the C60 guest in response to mechanical stretching. DFT calculations provide further insights into the electronic structures and charge transport properties of the molecular junctions based on metallocycles and the metallocycle-C60 complexes.