Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Complementary base-pair-facilitated electron tunneling for electrically pinpointing complementary nucleobases.

Takahito Ohshiro1, Yoshio Umezawa

  • 1Department of Chemistry, School of Science, University of Tokyo, and Japan Science and Technology Agency, Hongo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 133-0033, Japan.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|December 24, 2005
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Electrical discrimination of lysine methylation states at the single-molecule level.

Analytical sciences : the international journal of the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry·2026
Same author

Single-molecule detection of amino acid phosphorylation using electron tunnelling currents: toward neurodegenerative disease diagnosis.

Nanoscale·2026
Same author

Beyond ensemble averages: single-entity approaches for complex systems.

Analytical sciences : the international journal of the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry·2026
Same author

Single-molecule detection of modified amino acid regulating transcriptional activity.

RSC advances·2024
Same author

Solid-State Single-Molecule Sensing with the Electronic Life-Detection Instrument for Enceladus/Europa (ELIE).

Astrobiology·2023
Same author

Single-Molecule Identification of Nucleotides Using a Quantum Computer.

The journal of physical chemistry. B·2023

Scanning tunneling microscopy with nucleobase molecular tips can detect electron tunneling. Complementary nucleobases significantly facilitate tunneling, enabling precise electrical identification of individual nucleobases.

Area of Science:

  • Nanoscience
  • Molecular Biophysics
  • Surface Chemistry

Background:

  • Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) enables atomic-scale surface imaging.
  • Intermolecular electron tunneling is influenced by chemical interactions and electronic wave function overlap.
  • Direct detection of molecular identity via tunneling is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop nucleobase molecular tips for scanning tunneling microscopy.
  • To investigate the facilitation of intermolecular electron tunneling through specific chemical interactions.
  • To demonstrate the capability of selectively identifying individual nucleobases.

Main Methods:

  • Chemical modification of metal tips with nucleobase thiol derivatives (adenine, guanine, cytosine, uracil).

Related Experiment Videos

  • Utilizing single nucleobase adsorbates as molecular tips to probe sample nucleobases.
  • Measuring and comparing intermolecular electron tunneling rates between complementary and non-complementary nucleobases.

    • Main Results:

    • Electron tunneling was significantly facilitated between complementary nucleobase pairs (e.g., adenine-uracil, guanine-cytosine).
    • Non-complementary nucleobase pairings showed reduced electron tunneling facilitation.
    • The complementary nucleobase molecular tips could electrically distinguish and pinpoint individual nucleobases on a sample surface.

    Conclusions:

    • Nucleobase molecular tips enable selective detection of intermolecular electron tunneling.
    • Complementary base pairing strongly facilitates electron tunneling, allowing for chemical identification.
    • This technique, termed "intermolecular tunneling microscopy," offers a novel approach for molecular imaging of chemical identities at surfaces.