Carbon nanotube-nucleobase hybrids: nanorings from uracil-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Prabhpreet Singh (1) , Francesca Maria Toma (2) , Jitendra Kumar (3) , V. Venkatesh (3) , Jesus Raya (4) , Maurizio Prato (2) , Sandeep Verma (3) , Alberto Bianco (1)

1 ICT - Immunologie et chimie thérapeutiques
2 Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche
3 IIT Kanpur - Department of Chemistry [Kanpur]
4 Institut de Chimie de Strasbourg

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been covalently functionalized with uracil nucleobase. The hybrids have been characterized by using complementary spectroscopic and microscopic techniques including solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The uracil-functionalized SWCNTs are able to self-assemble into regular nanorings with a diameter of 50-70 nm, as observed by AFM and TEM. AFM shows that the rings do not have a consistent height and thickness, which indicates that they may be formed by separate bundles of CNTs. The simplest model for the nanoring formation likely involves two bundles of CNTs interacting with each other via uracil-uracil base-pairing at both CNT ends. These nanorings can be envisaged for the development of advanced electronic circuits.

Domaines: Chimie organique

Prabhpreet Singh, Francesca Maria Toma, Jitendra Kumar, V. Venkatesh, Jesus Raya, et al.. Carbon nanotube-nucleobase hybrids: nanorings from uracil-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes.. Chemistry - A European Journal, 2011, 17 (24), pp.6772-80. ⟨10.1002/chem.201100312⟩. ⟨hal-00605104⟩