OVERVIEW ON THE MAJOR RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ON CARBON NANOTUBES BEING DONE IN AMERICA, EUROPE AND ASIA - Carbon Nanotubes: From Bench Chemistry to Promising Biomedical Applications - page 299

ylides to [60]fullerene has provided a conversion of up to 98 % in 2-10
minutes, by using a 1:3 mixture of the IL 1-methyl-3- n -octyl imidazolium
tetraluoroborate ([omim]BF 4 ) and o -dichlorobenzene, and an applied power
as low as 12 W. The mono- versus poly-addition, speciic for [60]fullerene,
could be tuned as a function of fullerene concentration. A similar procedure
could be applied to SWCNTs, yielding group coverages of up to one functional
group per 60 carbon atoms of the SWCNT network, enabling the introduction
of luorous-tagged (FT) pyrrolidine moieties onto the tubes' surface in good
yields (1/108 functional coverage).
In another article, the authors have described the formation of
supramolecular hybrids through the functionalisation with thymine units 194
or adenine, 195 the last representing the irst nucleobases covalently attached
to the exosurface of SWCNTs. The samples were extensively characterised,
indicating the presence of one base unit for all 26-37 carbon atoms. Also,
a pattern of silver nanoparticles was found localised over the surface of the
CNT network, suggesting CNTs' ability to coordinate with metal ions in view
of interesting applications in the development of novel electronic devices and
as new supports for different catalytic transformations.

9.4 ASIA

9.4.1 Japan

Sumio IIJIMA
@ Meijo University, Japan
Expertise: Encapsulation and reactions inside carbon nanotubes

Very little information is available on the websites about the actual research
group of Prof. Iijima, the irst scientist who oficially revealed the identity of
this new allotrope of carbon in 1991. More precisely, the sample that was
the origin of this discovery had been produced by Prof. Ando, one of the
professors of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Japan.
Since then, Meijo University has been called “the birthplace of nanotubes”.

9.4.1.1 Encapsulaon and reacons inside CNTs

An interesting aspect associated with SWCNTs is that the space within the
nanotubes has a size comparable to that of organic molecules, and therefore
it suggests a favourable interaction between guest species and host SWCNTs.
To that purpose, Raman spectroscopy is one of the most suitable and eficient
techniques, in which the characteristic radial breathing mode (RBM) phonon