Chemically‐Specific Probes for the Atomic Force Microscope

The atomic force microscope (AFM) measures force and displacement with high sensitivity and submillisecond temporal resolution. By functionalizing the AFM probe with specific chemical groups or macromolecules, it is possible to characterize the chemical and physical properties of single molecules on the nanometer scale. In this paper we discuss the key issues that must be addressed when designing and characterizing a successful immobilization chemistry, and describe the chemistry we developed to covalently immobilize oligonucleotides in a specific orientation.