<br/>We discuss how the properties of nucleic acids and peptides affect their electron transmission and electron spin filtering properties. We present experimental results on the single molecule conductance through nucleic acid duplexes as a function of the length, the sequence, and the duplex flexibility. The experiments address the influence of the flexibility of nucleic acid duplexes on the single molecule conductance by changing the nature of the backbone which positions the Watson-Crick base pairs and by introducing a single nick in the backbone of the duplex.  Also, the sequence and length dependence of a duplexes conductance is used to examine how the flexibility of the molecules impacts the electronic delocalization over the duplex.  We present experimental results on a new type of electrode measurement that probes the spin polarization of chiral molecules by the magnetization that they generate on an electrode surface.  These studies quantify the magnitude of the polarization for peptides, which display secondary structure, as well as amino acids, which display only primary structure.<br/>

Electron transport and spin selectivity in nucleic acids and peptides

2019 Spring National Meeting

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