Phenine design for nanocarbon molecules

With the name phenine given to 1,3,5-trisubstituted benzene for a fundamental trigonal planar unit to weave nanometer-sized networks, a series of curved nanocarbon molecules have been designed and synthesized. Since the 67r-phenine units were amenable to modern biaryl coupling reactions mediated by transition metals, concise syntheses of >4007r-nanocarbon molecules were readily achieved. In addition, the phenine design allowed for installing of heteroatoms and/or transition metals doped at specific positions of the large 7r-systems of the nanocarbon molecules. Fundamental tools were also developed to specify and describe the locations of defects/dopants, quantify pyramidalizations of trigonal panels and estimate molecular Gauss curvatures of the discrete surface. Unique features of phenine nanocarbons, such as stereoisomerism, entropy-driven molecular assembly and effects of dopants on electronic/magnetic characteristics, were revealed during the first half-decade of investigations.

Automated summary

By naming 1,3,5-trisubstituted benzene as phenine and designing the synthesis of curved nanocarbon molecules, heteroatoms and transition metals can be incorporated at specific positions. The development of tools to describe defects, quantify pyramidalizations, and estimate molecular Gauss curvatures has also been achieved. The investigations revealed the unique features of phenine nanocarbons.