Dipole-controlled manipulation of DNA base molecules

Electric-dipole-controlled manipulation of DNA base molecules has been achieved using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, The authors have identified two distinct manipulation modes, namely, extraction and lateral sliding, which occur depending on the electrostatic stability of the surface dipole under the tip held. The experimental results obtained for adenine tone of the DNA base molecules) on the SrTiO3(100)-root 5 x root 5 surface closely match calculated results based on quantitative and experimental estimates of surface dipole and absolute tip-sample distance. This would provide both a systematic understanding of and a basic model for molecular manipulation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.