NANOSTRUCTURES: SHELLS AND TUBES

Abstract

TWO UNIQUE DEVELOPMENTS at the nanoscale level were unveiled last week: a hollow sphere composed of fullerene derivatives and a method for coaxing thin films to roll up into nanotubes. Fullerenes are notoriously difficult to dissolve in water; their C60 core is just too hydrophobic. One way fullerenes can be enticed into aqueous solution is by attaching charged functional groups. At the University of Tokyo, chemistry professor Eiichi Nakamura has created charged fullerenes that incorporate stable cyclopentadienide anions surrounded by phenyl groups. In taking a closer look, these molecules have amphiphilic characteristics like surfactants, notes chemistry professor Benjamin Chu at the State University of Newlfork, Stony Brook, who for years has studied the self-assembly behaviors of colloids and polymers. They have a hydrophobic portion attached to a charged portion. But the hydrophobic C60 part is shaped like a ball, different from the long alkyl chains of many surfactants. Chu, Nakamura, and coworke...