Conformational dynamics of single molecules visualized in real time by scanning force microscopy: Macromolecular mobility on a substrate surface in different vapours

We describe a technique to visualize and effect in real time motion and conformational transitions of single macromolecules. Two steps are involved. First, scanning force microscopy (SFM) was applied to detect in situ conformational transitions of single polymer molecules adsorbed on a substrate surface. Secondly, these changes were induced by controlled variations of environmental conditions in a microscope environmental chamber. In particular, we have revealed that exposure of a substrate with adsorbed macromolecules to vapours of different nature was able to increase molecular mobility and to stimulate conformational transitions of the polymer chains on the surface. Realization of SFM observation in a variable vapour environment was not as difficult as in liquid media. Variations of the vapour composition affected the oscillation dynamics of the cantilever with the scanning probe only to a small extent, and did not impede continuation of the scanning procedure. In fact, the characteristic times of the observed conformational changes were large enough (minutes to dozens of minutes) for sampling images repeatedly. Although recording of an SFM image was slow and required several minutes, we were able to visualize step‐by‐step the successive stages of the slow conformational transformation of the macromolecules adhering to the substrate, i.e. to investigate a molecular response to the environment changes in real time. Here, we studied the reversible collapse–decollapse transitions of cylindrical poly(methacrylate)‐graft‐poly(n‐butyl acrylate) brush‐like macromolecules exposed to different vapours. Single macromolecules on mica tended to assume a compacted globular conformation when exposed to the vapour of compounds, which due to their amphiphilic nature adsorb on mica and lower the surface energy of the substrate (e.g. alcohols). By contrast, the macromolecules adopted extended two‐dimensional worm‐like conformations in the vapours of compounds having high values of surface tension (such as water). In our opinion, the reason for the observed tendency was a competition in spreading on the substrate surface between the macromolecules and the co‐adsorbed vapour molecules. If the brush‐like macromolecules succeeded in the spreading, they acquired an extended conformation. Otherwise they collapsed to globuli in order to reduce the surface area per macromolecule. Thus, the enhanced mobility of synthetic macromolecules on a substrate observed in a vapour environment in combination with the possibility to manipulate the macromolecular conformation via changes in a vapour phase and the ability to visualize the transitions of the macromolecules individually, provides challenging prospects for SFM studies on the dynamics of single molecules under applied external stimuli.