New cyclotriphosphazene based nanotweezers bearing perylene and glycol units and their non-covalent interactions with single walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We report on the design, synthesis and characterization of three new amphiphilic four fragment cyclotriphosphazene nanotweezers based on thermally stable carrier/router cyclotriphosphazene, extended polycyclic aromatic perylene bisimides with hydrophobic aliphatic tail and solvophilic glycol units, suitable for the exfoliation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCHTs). The ultrasonication of SWCNT and new cyclotriphosphazene derivatives provided disentangled and undamaged SWCHTs, which interact with the perylene units through pi-pi interactions. The newly synthesized perylene-cyclotriphosphazenes were characterized by elemental analysis, mass, P-31, H-1 and C-13 NMR techniques. The photophyisical behavior of cyclotriphosphazene derivatives and their nanocomposites were investigated via UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence emission spectroscopy. It was found that non-geminalcis-tris-perylenebisimide substituted compound exhibit an additional fluorescence peak compared with the parent compounds which is consistent with an intramolecular excimer formation. Prepared nanocomposites were also characterized via Raman spectroscopy and the morphological features were analyzed by HR- TEM. The quality of the nanocomposite dispersions in water were evaluated by zeta potential analysis. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.