Synthesis and Racemization Process of Chiral Carbon Nanorings: A Step toward the Chemical Synthesis of Chiral Carbon Nanotubes

A simple and realistic model for the shortest sidewall segments of chiral single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been designed, and one of the chiral carbon nanorings, cyclo[13]paraphenylene-2,6-naphthylene ([13]CPPN, 1) has been successfully synthesized. OFT calculations reveal that the racemization energy of 1 is 8.4 kcal . mol(-1). In addition, some important energetic values, such as racemization barriers and strain energies, of other chiral carbon nanorings have been systematically estimated for future molecular design.