Chemists have tried to synthesize carbon nanobelts for more than 60 years, but none have succeeded until now. A team at Nagoya University reported the first organic synthesis of a carbon nanobelt in Science. Carbon nanobelts are expected to serve as a useful template for building carbon nanotubes and open a new field of nanocarbon science.
press released on May 11, 2017
Figure: A carbon nanobelt, represented as a ball-and stick model and space-filing model. Carbon atoms are colored in orange and gray and hydrogen atoms are colored in white. © Nagoya University
The new nanobelt, measuring 0.83 nanometer (nm) in diameter, was developed by researchers at Nagoya University's JST-ERATO Itami Molecular Nanocarbon Project, and the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM). Scientists around the world have tried to synthesize carbon nanobelts since the 1950s and Professor Kenichiro Itami's group has worked on its synthesis for 12 years.
"Nobody knew whether its organic synthesis was even possible or not," says Segawa, one of the leaders of this study who had been involved in its synthesis for 7 and a half years. "However, I had my mind set on the synthesis of this beautiful molecule."
Carbon nanobelts are belt-shaped molecules composed of fused benzene rings, which are aromatic rings consisting of six carbon atoms. Carbon nanobelts are a segment of carbon nanotubes, which have various applications in electronics and photonics due to their unique physical characteristics. ..... > read more on the ITbM Website
