Controllable Orientation of Helical Poly(L-glutamic acid) Rods through Macrodipole Interaction on Gold Surfaces and Vectorial Electron Transfer

Cell-membrane communications are modeled by the orientation of disulfide-modified poly(L-glutamic acid) helix assemblies on gold. The orientation of the rodlike adsorbants on the surface can be widely varied by complexation with a redox-active guest helix on the basis of interactions of the macrodipoles (indicated as arrows in the picture). The resultant complexed assemblies can function as an electron-mediator system.