Organic functionalization of ultradispersed nanodiamond: synthesis and applications

This work describes the chemical modification of ultradispersed nanodiamond results in the enrichment of the surface hydroxyl groups as by FT-IR, TGA, RGA-MS and XRD measurements. These hydroxyl groups can be conveniently functionalized with long chain alcohols (oxyhexanol) for easy manipulation of different functional groups. The surface loading of the oxyhexanol groups were found to be 0.13 mmol/g of nanodiamond. The functionalities on the surface of the modified nanodiamond afford a new solid phase for the synthesis of peptides to facilitate the covalent attachment of drug molecules. The conjugation of chiral ligands with a nanodiamond yields a new enantioselective heterogeneous catalyst that exhibits moderate to good enantioselectivity in the asymmetric aldol reaction.