A Strategy To Access Embedded Circuits in a Single-Molecule Bis-Terpyridine Breadboard Junction

Predictive approaches and rules to connect and combine molecular circuit components are required to realize the potential of molecular electronics and develop miniaturized integrated circuits. To this end, we have recently demonstrated a bis(terpyridine)-based molecular breadboard with four conductance states formed by the superposition of five 2–5 ring circuits. Here, we develop a generic analytical/statistical model to describe break-junction data and use it to extract the conductance of the five embedded circuits in the bis-terpyridine-based molecular breadboard junction. The model can be used to experimentally verify and tune the electronic properties of constituent molecular circuits within breadboard junctions, a key step toward developing functional circuitry. Further, our study provides a general framework to simulate and analyze break-junction conductance histograms of complex molecular junctions with more than two electrode anchoring groups.