Unimolecular recti
A Unimolecular rectifier is a single organic molecule which functions as a rectifier (one-way conductor) of electric current. The idea was first proposed in 1974 by Arieh (later Ari) Aviram, then at IBM, and Mark Ratner, then at New York University . Their publication was the first serious and concrete theoretical proposal in the new field of molecular electronics (UE).
Their proposed rectifying molecule was designed so that electrical conduction within it would be favored from the electron-rich subunit or moiety (electron donor) to an electron-poor moiety (electron acceptor), but disfavored (by several electron volts) in the reverse direction.
