Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.
Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Nat Commun. 2019 Jul 22;10(1):3278. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11192-y.
The chirality-controlled synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is a major challenge facing current nanomaterials science. The surface-assisted bottom-up fabrication from unimolecular CNT seeds (precursors), which unambiguously predefine the chirality of the tube during the growth, appears to be the most promising approach. This strategy opens a venue towards controlled synthesis of CNTs of virtually any possible chirality by applying properly designed precursor molecules. However, synthetic access to the required precursor molecules remains practically unexplored because of their complex structure. Here, we report a general strategy for the synthesis of molecular seeds for the controlled growth of SWCNTs possessing virtually any desired chirality by combinatorial multi-segmental assembly. The suggested combinatorial approach allows facile assembly of complex CNT precursors (with up to 100 carbon atoms immobilized at strictly predefined positions) just in one single step from complementary segments. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated on the synthesis of the precursor molecules for 21 different SWCNT chiralities utilizing just three relatively simple building blocks.
手性控制的单壁碳纳米管（SWCNTs）的合成是当前纳米材料科学面临的主要挑战。从单分子 CNT 种子（前体）进行表面辅助的自下而上制造，在生长过程中明确预定义管的手性，似乎是最有前途的方法。通过应用适当设计的前体分子，该策略为控制合成几乎任何可能手性的 CNT 开辟了途径。然而，由于其复杂的结构，实际上仍然没有探索出获得所需前体分子的合成途径。在这里，我们报告了一种通过组合多段组装合成具有几乎任何所需手性的 SWCNT 可控生长的分子种子的通用策略。所提出的组合方法允许从互补片段中仅通过一步轻松组装复杂的 CNT 前体（最多 100 个碳原子固定在严格预定义的位置）。该方法的可行性通过仅使用三个相对简单的构建块来合成 21 种不同 SWCNT 手性的前体分子得到证明。
