Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

1,3,5-Triphenylbenzene and Corannulene as Electron Receptors for Lithium Solvated Electron Solutions
Published on: October 10, 2016
Influence of conformation on conductance of biphenyl-dithiol single-molecule contacts
Artem Mishchenko1, David Vonlanthen, Velimir Meded
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Abstract:
The conductance of a family of biphenyl-dithiol derivatives with conformationally fixed torsion angle was measured using the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)-break-junction method. We found that it depends on the torsion angle phi between two phenyl rings; twisting the biphenyl system from flat (phi = 0 degrees ) to perpendicular (phi = 90 degrees ) decreased the conductance by a factor of 30. Detailed calculations of transport based on density functional theory and a two level model (TLM) support the experimentally obtained cos(2) phi correlation between the junction conductance G and the torsion angle phi. The TLM describes the pair of hybridizing highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) states on the phenyl rings and illustrates that the pi-pi coupling dominates the transport under "off-resonance" conditions where the HOMO levels are well separated from the Femi energy.
Related Concept Videos
Debye–Huckel–Onsager Conductance Equation
Stability of Conjugated Dienes
A comparison of the enthalpies of hydrogenation of dienes reveals that conjugated dienes release less heat on hydrogenation, rendering them more stable than their nonconjugated analogs.
π Molecular Orbitals of 1,3-Butadiene
The simplest conjugated diene is 1,3-butadiene: a four-carbon system where each carbon is sp2-hybridized and has an unhybridized p orbital that contains an unpaired electron. According to molecular orbital theory, atomic orbitals combine to form molecular orbitals such that the number...
Conformations of Cyclohexane
The chair form is the most stable and derives its name from its resemblance to the “easy chair.” In the chair conformation, two carbon atoms are arranged out-of-plane — one above and one below, minimizing the torsional strain. In the chair form, the bond angle is very close to the ideal tetrahedral value,...
¹H NMR of Conformationally Flexible Molecules: Temporal Resolution
Spin–Spin Coupling: One-Bond Coupling
