Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - A Peierls Transition in Long Polymethine Molecular Wires
T2 - Evolution of Molecular Geometry and Single-Molecule Conductance
AU - Xu, W.
AU - Leary, E.
AU - Sangtarash, S.
AU - Jirasek, M.
AU - González, M.T.
AU - Christensen, K.E.
AU - Abellán Vicente, L.
AU - Agraït, N.
AU - Higgins, S.J.
AU - Nichols, R.J.
AU - Lambert, C.J.
AU - Anderson, H.L.
PY - 2021/12/8
Y1 - 2021/12/8
N2 - Molecules capable of mediating charge transport over several nanometers with minimal decay in conductance have fundamental and technological implications. Polymethine cyanine dyes are fascinating molecular wires because up to a critical length, they have no bond-length alternation (BLA) and their electronic structure resembles a one-dimensional free-electron gas. Beyond this threshold, they undergo a symmetry-breaking Peierls transition, which increases the HOMO-LUMO gap. We have investigated cationic cyanines with central polymethine chains of 5-13 carbon atoms (Cy3+-Cy11+). The absorption spectra and crystal structures show that symmetry breaking is sensitive to the polarity of the medium and the size of the counterion. X-ray crystallography reveals that Cy9·PF6 and Cy11·B(C6F5)4 are Peierls distorted, with high BLA at one end of the π-system, away from the partially delocalized positive charge. This pattern of BLA distribution resembles that of solitons in polyacetylene. The single-molecule conductance is essentially independent of molecular length for the polymethine salts of Cy3+-Cy11+ with the large B(C6F5)4- counterion, but with the PF6- counterion, the conductance decreases for the longer molecules, Cy7+-Cy11+, because this smaller anion polarizes the π-system, inducing a symmetry-breaking transition. At higher bias (0.9 V), the conductance of the shorter chains, Cy3+-Cy7+, increases with length (negative attenuation factor, β = -1.6 nm-1), but the conductance still drops in Cy9+ and Cy11+ with the small polarizing PF6- counteranion.
AB - Molecules capable of mediating charge transport over several nanometers with minimal decay in conductance have fundamental and technological implications. Polymethine cyanine dyes are fascinating molecular wires because up to a critical length, they have no bond-length alternation (BLA) and their electronic structure resembles a one-dimensional free-electron gas. Beyond this threshold, they undergo a symmetry-breaking Peierls transition, which increases the HOMO-LUMO gap. We have investigated cationic cyanines with central polymethine chains of 5-13 carbon atoms (Cy3+-Cy11+). The absorption spectra and crystal structures show that symmetry breaking is sensitive to the polarity of the medium and the size of the counterion. X-ray crystallography reveals that Cy9·PF6 and Cy11·B(C6F5)4 are Peierls distorted, with high BLA at one end of the π-system, away from the partially delocalized positive charge. This pattern of BLA distribution resembles that of solitons in polyacetylene. The single-molecule conductance is essentially independent of molecular length for the polymethine salts of Cy3+-Cy11+ with the large B(C6F5)4- counterion, but with the PF6- counterion, the conductance decreases for the longer molecules, Cy7+-Cy11+, because this smaller anion polarizes the π-system, inducing a symmetry-breaking transition. At higher bias (0.9 V), the conductance of the shorter chains, Cy3+-Cy7+, increases with length (negative attenuation factor, β = -1.6 nm-1), but the conductance still drops in Cy9+ and Cy11+ with the small polarizing PF6- counteranion.
U2 - 10.1021/jacs.1c10747
DO - 10.1021/jacs.1c10747
M3 - Journal article
VL - 143
SP - 20472
EP - 20481
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society
SN - 0002-7863
IS - 48
ER -