We have investigated electrical transport through the molecular model systems benzenedithiol, benzenediamine, hexanedithiol and hexanediamine. Conductance histograms under different experimental conditions indicate that measurements using mechanicall
y controllable break junctions in vacuum are limited by the surface density of molecules at the contact. Hexanedithiol histograms typically exhibit a broad peak around 7 * 10^{-4} G_0. In contrast to recent results on STM-based break junctions in solution we find that the spread in single-molecule conductance is not reduced by amino anchoring groups. Histograms of hexanediamine exhibit a very wide peak around 4 * 10^{-4} G_0. For both benzenedithiol and benzenediamine we observe a large variability in low-bias conductance. We attribute these features to the slow breaking of the lithographic mechanically controllable break junctions and the absence of a solvent that may enable molecular readsorption after bond breaking. Nevertheless, we have been able to acquire reproducible current-voltage characteristics of benzenediamine and benzenedithiol using a statistical measurement approach. Benzenedithiol measurements yield a conductance gap of about 0.9 V at room temperature and 0.6 V at 77 K. In contrast, the current-voltage characteristics of benzenediamine-junctions typically display conductance gaps of about 0.9 V at both temperatures.
