Synthesis and racemization process of chiral carbon nanorings: a step toward the chemical synthesis of chiral carbon nanotubes.

A simple and realistic model for the shortest sidewall segments of chiral single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been designed, and one of the chiral carbon nanorings, cyclo[13]paraphenylene-2,6-naphthylene ([13]CPPN, 1) has been successfully synthesized. DFT calculations reveal that the racemization energy of 1 is 8.4 kcal·mol(-1). In addition, some important energetic values, such as racemization barriers and strain energies, of other chiral carbon nanorings have been systematically estimated for future molecular design.