ELECTROCHEMICAL DEPROTECTION FOR SITE-SELECTIVE IMMOBILIZATION AND LOCAL ASSEMBLY OF MOLECULES BY CLICK-CHEMISTRY

A method and devices for deprotecting anchored molecular compounds is provided which relies on an electrically addressable surface S with multiple compounds C thereon. Each compound C comprises three distinct moieties, including: a first moiety A, anchored to the surface S; a second moiety, which comprises an acetylene unit U, that is a molecular backbone bonded to the first moiety; and a third moiety P, which is a protection moiety for acetylene. The protection moiety P is bonded to the acetylene unit U of the second moiety via an electrochemically breakable bond. The surface S is submerged in an electrolyte, so that the compounds C are immersed in the electrolyte. The protection moiety P of at least a subset of the compounds C can be electrochemically cleaved by applying an electric potential between the surface S and the electrolyte, so as to obtain cleaved compounds C′ with free acetylene terminals.