A new approach to extract multiple distinct conformers and co-existing distinct electronic properties of a single molecule by point-contact method

Abstract

Conventionally, it is assumed that a single molecule has only one absolute electronic property. Molecular electronics, molecular machines, intelligent drugs are some of the fields that require atomic scale control of molecular properties. In spite of remarkable achievements in the last two decades, absolute control of molecular properties has not been achieved. Here, experimental evidences argue against assigning a fixed property to a molecule. A molecule might structurally accommodate itself to the new environment and its electronic properties might change accordingly. By isolating electronic properties of all the conformers of a Rose Bengal molecule one by one, a map of its complete electronic properties is drawn here. The existing concept of one absolute electronic property of a molecule is true only for those molecules, which have only one stable conformer. For others, depending on the conformer, multiple distinct electronic properties may co-exist, leading to a variable output in an electronic characterization. Thus, we present a generalized method for characterizing/resolving collective electronic properties that emerge statistically. The method could be used for designing molecular switches for collective and evolutionary information processing.