All-carbon supramolecular complexation of a bilayer molecular nanographene with [60] and [70]fullerenes.

Supramolecular chemistry of carbon-based materials provides a variety of chemical structures with potential applications in materials science and biomedicine. Here, we explore the supramolecular complexation of fullerenes C and C, highlighting the ability of molecular nanographene tweezers to capture these structures. The binding constant for the CNG-1⊃C complex was significantly higher than for CNG-1⊃C, showing a clear selectivity for the more π-extended C.

Synthetic chiral molecular nanographenes: the key figure of the racemization barrier.

Chirality is one of the most intriguing concepts of chemistry, involving living systems and, more recently, materials science. In particular, the bottom-up synthesis of molecular nanographenes endowed with one or several chiral elements is a current challenge for the chemical community. The wilful introduction of defects in the sp honeycomb lattice of molecular nanographenes allows the preparation of chiral molecules with tuned band-gaps and chiroptical properties.