Cyclooctatetraene‐Embedded Carbon Nanorings

Abstract

With the prosperity of the development of carbon nanorings, certain topologically or functionally unique units‐embedded carbon nanorings have sprung up in the past decade. Herein, we report the facile and efficient synthesis of three cyclooctatetraene‐embedded carbon nanorings (COTCNRs) that contain three (COTCNR1 and COTCNR2) and four (COTCNR3) COT units in a one‐pot Yamamoto coupling. These nano rings feature hoop‐shaped segments of Gyroid (G‐), Diamond (D‐), and Primitive (P‐) type carbon schwarzites. The conformations of the trimeric nano rings COTCNR1 and COTCNR2 are shape‐persistent, whereas the tetrameric COTCNR3 possesses a flexible carbon skeleton which undergoes conformational changes upon forming host‐guest complexes with fullerenes (C60 and C70), whose co‐crystals may potentially serve as fullerene‐based semiconducting supramolecular wires with the electrical conductivities on the order of 10−7 S cm−1 (for C60⊂COTCNR3) and 10−8 S cm−1 (for C70⊂COTCNR3) under ambient conditions. This research not only describes highly efficient one‐step syntheses to three cyclooctatetraene‐embedded carbon nanorings which feature hoop‐shaped segments of distinctive topological carbon schwarzites, but also demonstrates the potential application of the one dimensional fullerenes array secured by COTCNR3 in electronics.