Water-Dispersible Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Novel Hybrid Nanostructures

Water-dispersible multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were successfully prepared by the chemical grafting of acylated MWNTs with adenosine. The MWNTs were first purified and oxidized in order to obtain carboxylic acid funcionalized MWNTs, which was further acylated with thionyl chloride to give acyl chloride bound MWNTs. Then, adenosine was grafted onto the surface of nanotubes by chemical functionalization via esterification or amidation reaction. Further, novel hybrid nanostructures were synthesized by reaction of hydroxyl groups between adenosine-functionalized MWNTs and boronic acid functionalized gold nanoparticles to form boronate ester linkages that anchor gold nanoparticles onto the external surface of functionalized nanotubes