Abstract:  The two phenomena of electron transfer in molecules and electron transport through molecules are closely related to one another.  Some of the phenomena exhibited in one of these areas can be mirrored in the other, but there are also differences.  In this talk, we discuss the transport situation and different mechanisms for transport that occur under different temperature conditions and with different molecular structures.  In particular, we will examine transport through more complex organic molecules than usual, and the interference phenomena that can result from cross-coupling, from meta linkages, and from simultaneous transport through more than one molecule.  Emphasis will be conceptual (no complicated equations, no harping on methodology), and some concepts of physical organic chemistry, and their relationship to transport, will be addressed.

Mark Ratner is Lawrence B. Dumas Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, Co-Director of the Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), and Chemistry Department chair.  He received his A.B. degree from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Following postdoctoral work in Aarhus, Denmark and in Munich, he spent several years on the faculty at New York University, before moving to Northwestern in 1975. As well as previous service as chair at Northwestern, he has also served as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Chemical Society and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.  His awards include several honorary doctorates, the Feynman Prize, the J. Willard Gibbs Medal, and the Langmuir Prize, as well as several teaching awards. He is the author or co-author of over 700 peer-reviewed articles, two textbooks on quantum mechanics, and a number of popular books on science and nanotechnology.

Ratner is a theoretical materials chemist, whose work focuses on the interplay between molecular structure and molecular properties. His pioneering 1974 paper with Aviram which proposed the use of a single molecule as rectifying device is considered one of the foundations of molecular electronics. His work has had a profound influence on the fields of molecular electronics, molecular optoelectronics, photovoltaics, conductive polymers, molecular transport junctions and molecular switches. In addition to this, Ratner has worked on molecular systems design and surface self-assembly, nonlinear optical response theory, nanomagnetism, and on developing quantum and classical computational methodologies for the study of charge transfer and charge transport.  

The Harold A. Iddles Lecture Series was established as an annual event of the Chemistry Department upon Professor Iddles' retirement in 1961. Chemistry alumni and friends established this fund to support a lecture series which includes one technical presentation and a second presentation of broader interest for the general public. This alumni gesture has served as a continuing recognition of Professor Iddles' service to the department as its head from 1929 to 1961, and of the educational and research programs he fostered.  Dr. Iddles, educated at Michigan State College (B.S., 1918) and State University of Iowa (M.S., 1922), received the Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University in 1925 and then studied in Austria, Germany and England. During his long tenure at New Hampshire, he was widely recognized as an outstanding teacher and tireless advisor to students. For over thirty years some of the most distinguished chemists in the world have visited the University of New Hampshire as Iddles Lecturers.  

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