Conductance of -carborane-based wires with different substitution patterns.

Here, we report the synthesis, structure, and single-molecule conductance of three -carborane-based molecular wires (-, - and -CN) with multiple conduction channels. The effect of connectivity in target wires compared with the corresponding phenyl-centered wires was studied using the scanning tunneling microscope break junction (STM-BJ) technique and theoretical calculations. Interestingly, the three-dimensional structure in -carborane-based wires can effectively promote the through-space transmission paths or the formation of stable molecular junctions compared to the corresponding phenyl-centered wires. Moreover, the significant conductance difference of -carborane-based wires was due to the combination of multiple conduction channels and quantum interference. Understanding the effects of different bridging groups and anchor group substitution patterns provides guidelines for designing -carborane-based multichannel molecular wires.