Publications [#318054] of David N. Beratan

Journal Articles

1. Liu, C; Xiang, L; Zhang, Y; Zhang, P; Beratan, DN; Li, Y; Tao, N, Engineering nanometre-scale coherence in soft matter., Nature chemistry, vol. 8 no. 10 (October, 2016), pp. 941-945 [doi]
   (last updated on 2025/07/06)

   Abstract:
   Electronic delocalization in redox-active polymers may be disrupted by the heterogeneity of the environment that surrounds each monomer. When the differences in monomer redox-potential induced by the environment are small (as compared with the monomer-monomer electronic interactions), delocalization persists. Here we show that guanine (G) runs in double-stranded DNA support delocalization over 4-5 guanine bases. The weak interaction between delocalized G blocks on opposite DNA strands is known to support partially coherent long-range charge transport. The molecular-resolution model developed here finds that the coherence among these G blocks follows an even-odd orbital-symmetry rule and predicts that weakening the interaction between G blocks exaggerates the resistance oscillations. These findings indicate how sequence can be exploited to change the balance between coherent and incoherent transport. The predictions are tested and confirmed using break-junction experiments. Thus, tailored orbital symmetry and structural fluctuations may be used to produce coherent transport with a length scale of multiple nanometres in soft-matter assemblies, a length scale comparable to that of small proteins.