US chemists have made a new type of molecular bowl that binds strongly to C70 fullerenes.
Colin Nuckolls, at Columbia University, New York, and colleagues joined together the proximal carbons of contorted hexabenzocoronenes using solution-based, palladium-catalysed chemistry. The resulting shallow bowl-shaped molecules bind C70 very strongly and are also better than their hexabenzocoronene precursors at stabilising negative charge.
The unique optical, electronic and structural properties of these new bowl-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons provide opportunities to create new organic materials, novel host-guest complexes and improved photovoltaics, says Nuckolls.
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