3. Design and production of molecular circuits...

As a logical follow-up to this work, and with medium-term prospects, scientists are now looking to develop electronic information processing systems on a molecular scale. The realization of these systems will involve the following steps:

• design of molecular electrical wires capable of carrying information. These wires must be made up of conjugated systems long enough to cross a typical molecular element such as a monolayer or bilayer membrane;

• the possibility of grafting these wires onto a membrane or surface to connect the molecular electrical device. The aim here is to establish macrocontact with the device so that the operator can control it via a simple command (electrical potential, irradiation);

• graft onto these wires molecular systems capable of sensing, exploiting...