Functionalization of carbon nanotubes for applications in materials science and nanomedicine

Vázquez, Ester; Prato, Maurizio

doi:10.1351/PAC-CON-09-10-40

Pure Appl. Chem., 2010, Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 853-861

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-09-10-40

Published online 2010-03-13

Functionalization of carbon nanotubes for applications in materials science and nanomedicine

Ester Vázquez¹* and Maurizio Prato²*

¹ Departament of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry-IRICA, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
² Center of Excellence on Nanostructured Materials, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, INSTM, unit of Trieste, University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy

Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be functionalized using a variety of efficient protocols. Especially, esterification and amidation reactions are exploited along with 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. The use of microwaves (MWs) to activate the reactivity of CNTs is also reported. Innovative NMR methodologies can be introduced to investigate the covalent attachment of organic moieties to CNTs.