Edge Functionalization of Structurally Defined Graphene Nanoribbons for Modulating the Self-Assembled Structures

• Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society Vol. 139; no. 46; pp. 16454 - 16457
• Main Authors: Keerthi, Ashok, Radha, Boya, Rizzo, Daniele, Lu, Hao, Diez Cabanes, Valentin, Hou, Ian Cheng-Yi, Beljonne, David, Cornil, Jérôme, Casiraghi, Cinzia, Baumgarten, Martin, Müllen, Klaus, Narita, Akimitsu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 22.11.2017
• Subjects: Communication
• ISSN: 0002-7863; 1520-5126; 1520-5126
• DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b09031

Edge functionalization of bottom-up synthesized graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with anthra­quinone and naphthalene/​​perylene mono­imide units has been achieved through a Suzuki coupling of polyphenylene precursors bearing bromo groups, prior to the intramolecular oxidative cyclo-dehydrogenation. High efficiency of the substitution has been validated by MALDI-TOF MS analysis of the functionalized precursors and FT-IR, Raman, and XPS analyses of the resulting GNRs. Moreover, AFM measurements demonstrated the modulation of the self-assembling behavior of the edge-functionalized GNRs, revealing that GNR-PMI formed an intriguing rectangular network. This result suggests the possibility of programming the supra­molecular architecture of GNRs by tuning the functional units.