NER: High Volume Chemical Syntheses of SWNTs with Uniform, Tunable Properties

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The objective of this research is to develop a high-volume chemical synthesis of single-walled nanotubular molecules with uniform but tunable dimensions and properties. The approach is a two-stage chemical synthesis. In the first stage, C60 molecules add in a diastereoselective syn fashion across large, phenyl substituted acenes to produce cyclacene (i.e., cyclic acene) molecules with variable diameters. Cyclacene molecules map directly onto zig-zag carbon nanotubes. In the second stage, the cyclacenes are iteratively oligomerized to form single-walled nanotubular molecules with variable lengths. This research is important because it offers a means to prepare uniform batches of single-walled nanotubular molecules. While single-walled carbon nanotubes hold great promise in a variety of technological applications including chemical and biological sensors, efficient energy storage (e.g., gas and battery applications), nanoscale electronics (e.g., one-dimensional quantum wires in nanocircuitry; nanotransistors), nanoscale electromechanical systems (i.e., NEMS), novel actuators, multifunctional materials (e.g., lightweight, high strength, energy efficient, electrically conducting, etc.) and advanced instrumentation (e.g., AFM, STM and CFM probe tips), current carbon nanotube fabrication techniques produce a myriad of different nanotubes possessing different lengths, diameters, shapes and properties. The absence of uniform batches of carbon nanotubes hinders the development of these important technologies. Additionally, the single-walled nanotubular molecules to be prepared in this high-volume chemical synthesis should be amenable to facile chemical functionalization. Appropriately functionalized single-walled nanotubular molecules can selectively bind one agent (chemical or biological) in the presence of others, thereby improving and expanding their application as chemical and biological sensors.