Long-Range Electron Transfer through Self-Assembled Monolayers Composed of Helical Peptides Carrying a Ferrocene Unit at the Terminal

Large Conductance Changes in Peptide Single Molecule Junctions Controlled by pH

“…There are a number of studies in the literature of electrical junctions formed from peptide monolayers. Much of the work done in recent years to investigate the ET characteristics of short peptide chains within SAMs has been undertaken by Sek et al − and Kimura et al ,,− Such investigations have usually employed electrochemical methods or STM to probe charge transfer properties. Generally, in these studies, the peptides have been self-assembled to form a monolayer film or alternatively embedded within a SAM of alkanethiols.…”

“…In particular, Kimura et al have used synthetic peptides comprising modified alanine amino acids with two methyl groups instead of one; this strategy promotes a very strong α-helix conformation even with short length peptides. Issues addressed with electrical characterization of peptides include rectifying the behavior of oriented helical peptide monolayers, ,, molecular dipole effects, ,, the influence of electric field, the distance dependence of ET rates and conductance, , the influence of the metal surface to peptide chemical linking group, , the quantitative evaluation of single molecule conductance, ,, and changes to single molecule conductance upon metal ion binding . The diversity of such studies shows that peptides are particularly interesting targets in single molecular electronics.…”