Letter abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 1, 122 - 125 (2006)
Published online: 29 October 2006 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2006.92
Subject Category: Surface patterning and imaging
Mechanochemistry: targeted delivery of single molecules:
Anne-Sophie Duwez1,4, Stéphane Cuenot1,5, Christine Jérôme2, Sabine Gabriel2, Robert Jérôme2, Stefania Rapino3 & Francesco Zerbetto3
Abstract
The use of scanning probe microscopy-based techniques to manipulate single molecules1 and deliver them in a precisely controlled manner to a specific target represents a significant nanotechnological challenge2, 3. The ultimate physical limit in the design and fabrication of organic surfaces can be reached using this approach. Here we show that the atomic force microscope (AFM), which has been used extensively to investigate the stretching of individual molecules4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, can deliver and immobilize single molecules, one at a time, on a surface. Reactive polymer molecules, attached at one end to an AFM tip, are brought into contact with a modified silicon substrate to which they become linked by a chemical reaction. When the AFM tip is pulled away from the surface, the resulting mechanical force causes the weakest bond — the one between the tip and polymer — to break. This process transfers the polymer molecule to the substrate where it can be modified by further chemical reactions.
- Unité de Chimie et Physique des Hauts Polymères and Research Center in Micro- and Nanoscopic Materials and Electronic Devices, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Croix du Sud 1, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Centre d'Etude et de Recherche sur les Macromolécules, University of Liège, B6 Sart-Tilman, 4000 Liège, Belgium
- Dipartimento di Chimica "G. Ciamician", Università di Bologna, V. F. Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy
- Present address: Department of Chemistry, University of Liège, B6 Sart-Tilman, 4000 Liège, Belgium
- Present address: Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel, Rue de la Houssinière 2, 44322 Nantes Cedex 3, France
Correspondence to: Anne-Sophie Duwez1,4 e-mail: asduwez@ulg.ac.be
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