Electron transport through catechol-functionalized molecular rods

The charge transport properties of a catechol-type dithiol-terminated oligo-phenylene-ethynylene was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and by the scanning tunnelling microscopy break junction technique (STM-BJ). Single molecule charge transport experiments demonstrated the existence of high and low conductance regions. The junction conductance is rather weakly dependent on the redox state of the bridging molecule. However, a distinct dependence of junction formation probability and of relative stretching distances of the catechol- and quinone-type molecular junctions is observed. Substitution of the central catechol ring with alkoxy-moieties and the combination with a topological analysis of possible π-electron pathways through the respective molecular skeletons lead to a working hypothesis, which could rationalize the experimentally observed conductance characteristics of the redox-active nanojunctions.