RUI: Fullertubes and Metallofullertubes: New Molecular Architectures and Seminal Studies

在这个由化学系化学结构、动力学机制B项目资助的本科院校研究项目中，普渡大学韦恩分校化学和生物化学系的史蒂文史蒂文森教授正在进行一项研究，即分离具有单层端帽的管状碳的不寻常分子。 这些分子由于其在电子学、工程学、催化和医学中的潜在应用而具有重要的当前兴趣。 该研究包括分析，有机，物理和材料化学的元素。 因此，该项目非常适合教育各种早期职业科学家，包括那些在化学领域代表性不足的群体的成员。 该研究项目计划吸引本科生和高中生的大量参与。管状碳同素异形体由单层轧制石墨烯组成（即，单壁纳米管部分）化学键合到布置为半球形富勒烯端帽的单层碳原子上。 根据管状带的手性和六边形/五边形富勒烯端帽的排列，这些全碳富勒烯管结构可以是金属的或非金属的。 在这项研究中，从不同的合成模式（即，电弧对火焰）将被研究。 还将研究三个不同家族的新富勒管的存在。 此外，封装的过渡金属IIIB和4f-块金属原子到这些fullertubes将被调查。 这些关于富勒烯管结构的基础研究的结果将对那些广泛从事定义明确的石墨烯衍生系统中结构/功能关系研究的人产生兴趣和信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

In this project for Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI), funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics & Mechanisms B Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Steven Stevenson of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Purdue University-Fort Wayne is performing research that is isolating unusual molecules of tubular carbons with single layer endcaps. These molecules are of significant current interest, due to their potential application in electronics, engineering, catalysis, and medicine. The research includes elements of analytical, organic, physical, and materials chemistry. As such, the project is well suited for educating a diverse array of early career scientists, including those who are members of underrepresented groups in the field of chemistry. Significant participation of undergraduate students as well as high school students is planned for this research project.Tubular-shaped carbon allotropes consist of a single layer of rolled graphene (i.e., single walled nanotube moiety) chemically bonded to a single layer of carbon atoms arranged as hemispherical fullerene endcaps. Depending on the chirality of the tubular belt and the arrangement of hexagonal/pentagonal fullerene endcaps, these all-carbon fullertube structures can either be metallic or non-metallic. In this research, the yields of these fullertubes in soot obtained from different modes of synthesis (i.e., electric-arc versus flame) will be studied. The existence of three different families of new fullertubes will also be studied. In addition, encapsulation of transition metal IIIB and 4f-block metal atoms into these fullertubes will be investigated. The results emanating from these fundamental studies on fullertube structures will like be of interest and informative to those engaged broadly in the study of structure/function relationships in well-defined, graphene-derived systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.