USTC's New Progress in Fundamental Research on Single Molecular Processes

A new achievement has been made by the single molecule physical chemical research group at USTC's Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale: Following their success in magnetic control of single molecules, they have made another breakthrough in transforming a single melamine molecule from an ordinary chemical to an artificial molecule that simultaneously exhibits rectifying and switching functions. This successful integration of dual functions in a single molecule has opened up a new approach to multi-functional single molecule processes.

The report on this achievement was published in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS 106, 15259-15263 (2009)). This project received funding from the Major Science Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Natural Science Foundation, and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.