Regensburg 2002 – scientific programme

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CPP: Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 18: Nanostrukturierte Materialien

CPP 18.1: Talk

Thursday, March 14, 2002, 11:00–11:20, H39

Observing the Motion of Single Molecules in Nanostructured Materials — •Christian Hellriegel, Christian Seebacher und Christoph Bräuchle — Physikalische Chemie, Department Chemie der LMU München, Butenandtstr. 5-13 (Haus E), 81377 München

About a decade ago the single molecule spectroscopy (SMS) was restricted to very special molecules and materials. Meanwhile a wealth of systems can be analysed using SMS, ranging from biological to inorganic systems.

Materials with structural properties on the scale length of nanometres such as molecular sieves pose ideal environments to incorporate single molecules in an ordered fashion. We have recently been able to demonstrate the possibility to detect single fluorescent dye molecules incorporated as guests in such materials by confocal microscopy. We gain additional information from the molecule by recording its emission spectra and by determining the molecule’s orientation. In some cases we can directly observe the motion of molecules inside a porous network, the changing of their orientations and spectral shifts.

The characterisation of individual molecules, their nearest environment and the interactions between the molecules and their environment is a fundamental step towards the development of devices based on single molecules in nanoporous cages.