title: Rational concept to recognize/extract single-walled carbon nanotubes with a specific chirality.
abstract: Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have remarkable and unique electronic, mechanical, and thermal properties, which are closely related to their chiralities; thus, the chirality-selective recognition/extraction of the SWNTs is one of the central issues in nanotube science. However, any rational materials design enabling one to efficiently extract/solubilize pure SWNT with a desired chirality has yet not been demonstrated. Herein we report that certain chiral polyfluorene copolymers can well-recognize SWNTs with a certain chirality preferentially, leading to solubilization of specific chiral SWNTs. The chiral copolymers were prepared by the Ni(0)-catalyzed Yamamoto coupling reaction of 2,7-dibromo-9,9-di-n-decylfluorene and 2,7-dibromo-9,9-bis[(S)-(+)-2-methylbutyl]fluorene comonomers. The selectivity of the SWNT chirality was mainly determined by the relative fraction of the achiral and chiral side groups. By a molecular mechanics simulation, the cooperative interaction between the fluorene moiety, alkyl side chain, and graphene wall were responsible for the recognition/dissolution ability of SWNT chirality. This is a first example describing the rational design and synthesis of novel fluorene-based copolymers toward the recognition/extraction of targeted (n, m) chirality of the SWNTs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ozawa
authors.forename: Tsuyohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujigaya
authors.forename: Yasuro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Niidome
authors.forename: Naosuke
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hotta
authors.forename: Michiya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujiki
authors.forename: Naotoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakashima
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D005449:Fluorenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D005449:Fluorenes; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D011108:Polymers; D009532:Nickel