Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube–Ferrocene Nanohybrids: Observing Intramolecular Electron Transfer in Functionalized SWNTs

✍ Scribed by Dirk M. Guldi; Massimo Marcaccio; Demis Paolucci; Francesco Paolucci; Nikos Tagmatarchis; Dimitrios Tasis; Ester Vázquez; Maurizio Prato

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 157 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0044-8249
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.200351289

✦ Synopsis

Dedicated to Professor Dan Meyerstein on the occasion of his 65th birthday

Since their discovery, carbon single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs) have drawn considerable attention, not only due to their unique chemical and physical properties, but also because of their promise in the area of materials chemistry. [1] A central aspect of nanotube chemistry, which yet awaits exploration, is their functionality and performance in donor-acceptor ensembles. Our recent success in SWNT functionalization, [2] based on the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides to the double bonds of SWNTs, led us to pursue the covalent linkage of an electron donor, namely ferrocene, to the allcarbon network. Here we report for the first time on intramolecular electron transfer reactions in a novel SWNTbased donor-acceptor ensemble.

The SWNTs were produced by Carbon Nanotechnology, Inc., by the HIPco process (http://cnanotech.com). The functionalized SWNTs were synthesized by following our recently published procedure. [2] Accordingly, N-functionalized glycines 1 a,b and paraformaldehyde were heated to [