Abstract

Carbon Nanohoops in Continuous Flow

Ramesh Jasti, Associate Professor, Organic, Inorganic, Materials, and Supramolecular Chemistry, University of Oregon

[n]Cycloparaphenylenes (or “carbon nanohoops”) are cyclic fragments of carbon nanotubes that consist of n para linked benzene rings. These strained, all sp2 hybridized macrocycles have size-dependent optical and electronic properties that can be useful in a broad range of applications from organic electronics to drug delivery. We have developed syntheses to selectively prepare these materials and a variety of structural variants. The most challenging transformation in the synthetic sequence to prepare these materials is the macrocyclization reaction which requires high dilution conditions. Advantages of using a flow reactor for this macrocyclization step will be described.