Practical single molecule force spectroscopy: How to determine fundamental thermodynamic parameters of intermolecular bonds with an atomic force microscope

Single molecule force spectroscopy involves loading a chemical bond using an atomic force microscope and measuring the rupture forces required to break that bond. In 20 years since its inception this technique developed into a robust way to extract a nearly complete set of the information about the bond that includes the bond energy, the kinetic parameters of the bond, and the geometry of the transition state. In this article we review the basic physics of the measurements, the model that is used for data interpretation, and go over the ways to extract the bond information from the experimental data. We also discuss several practical aspects of the measurements that are helpful to the planning and analysis of single molecule force spectroscopy experiments.