posted on 2007-05-02, 00:00authored byPeter J. Boul, Dong-Gyu Cho, G. M. Aminur Rahman, Manuel Marquez, Zhongping Ou, Karl M. Kadish, Dirk M. Guldi, Jonathan L. Sessler
Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) bind strongly to sapphyrins, quintessential pentapyrrolic
“expanded porphyrin” macrocycles, through donor−acceptor stacking interactions. The specific use of a
functionalized sapphyrin diol yields stable water-suspendable nanotubes and also permits the formation of
well-defined assemblies in ionic liquids. The absorption and steady-state fluorescence spectra of the resulting
noncovalently functionalized nanotube complexes have been analyzed in aqueous media and ionic liquids,
yielding a description of the photophysical properties of the nanotube−sapphyrin complexes as donor−acceptor species for light-harvesting.