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Materials chemistry

Controlled nanotube reactions

Nature volume 465, pages 172–173 (2010)Cite this article

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For many potential applications, carbon nanotubes must be chemically modified, but the reactions involved aren't easily controlled. The discovery of a reversible modification process is a step towards such control.

Striking the right balance between chemical reactivity and selectivity — a measure of the number of unwanted side reactions associated with a desired reaction — is a challenge that chemists have always faced. Nowhere is this more evident than in the chemistry of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Because of their low reactivity and high stability, harsh reaction conditions are usually required to 'convince' reluctant CNTs to react. But when they do react, it is difficult to control the number of chemical groups that become covalently attached to the carbon skeleton (the degree of functionalization), a property that is crucial for many applications of CNTs.

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Figure 1: Reversible modification of carbon nanotubes.

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  1. Maurizio Prato is in the Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università di Trieste, Trieste 34127, Italy. prato@units.it,

    Maurizio Prato

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  1. Maurizio Prato
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Prato, M. Controlled nanotube reactions. Nature 465, 172–173 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/465172a

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