The NSF Center for Nanothread Chemistry (CNC) is a Phase 1 National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation (CCI). It brings together a team of chemists from Penn State, Cornell, NYU and Brandeis universities to define the chemistry to produce a new class of organic molecules that have pervasive covalent bond connectivity in multiple dimensions.  Nanothreads, the first such example, are highly extended one-dimensional molecules with cage-like bonding, akin to the thinnest possible threads of diamond and capped by circumferential hydrogen. Thus nanothreads are "hybrids" of hydrocarbon molecules and carbon nanomaterials that should collectively share the properties of both. In…

Organic synthesis allows for the realization of millions of small molecules and polymers. However, thus far we know of only a handful of well-ordered extended carbon solids, molecules, and nanomaterials with strong covalent bonds, for example diamond, graphite, graphene, fullerenes, and nanotubes. These molecules and nanomaterials can have superlative electronic, mechanical, chemical, thermal, and separation properties that have garnered much attention. New examples with different carbon bonding configurations likely would as well; interest in them is great, as suggested by over 600 theoretical predictions for new carbon structures in the literature. Except in a few cases, extended…

The properties of molecules, polymers, and solids are determined by their composition and structural and bonding arrangements. The interesting properties of extended carbon solids and molecules arise from carbon-carbon bonding which extends over 6 Å or more in multiple dimensions and can give them great rigidity. Although sp3 nanothreads and sp2 nanotubes are both 1D carbon materials, their properties can be expected to contrast as sharply as diamond and graphite. For example, nanothreads spontaneously self-assemble in the solid state into single crystals hundreds of microns across. The hybrid molecule/nanomaterial nature of nanothreads as hydrocarbons makes them arguably much more…

In the remarkable nanothread formation reaction, the threads consistently align to an applied uniaxial stress imposed by the opposed anvil device (diamond cell or double toroidal anvils in a Paris-Edinburgh Press) to form hexagonal crystals, despite their formation from a 3-dimensional, monoclinic benzene molecular crystal. Our hypothesis is that a subset of benzene stacks parallel to the uniaxial stress in either single crystal or polycrystalline benzene are selected for reaction, as both form single-crystal nanothreads (see JACS 139, 16343 (2017).). Subsequent collapse into 1D nanothreads is favored because the volume of activation is reduced most (and reaction rate increased most) by…

The Center’s main phase I goal is to develop a detailed, actionable and fundamental understanding of the synthesis mechanism of nanothreads, to enable both synthesis scale-up and the production of new threads of diverse composition, properties, and structure. Although nanothreads are synthesized in the solid state, we will investigate their considerable potential for post-synthetic modification and application in the liquid state, given their hybrid nature, particularly for threads with heteroatoms or functional groups that may facilitate solubility. The helium compression chamber (Ange. Chem. Int. Ed. 56, 11126 (2017)) exemplifies  a theoretical approach we are using to explore the…

The CNC team intends to weave innovation into all aspects of the Center. The research program is inherently interdisciplinary, deeply integrating synthesis, functionalization, predictive and interpretive theory, advanced characterization, and property measurement with an established track record of two, three, and four-fold collaboration and cross-training of students. The initial discovery of carbon nanothreads, now reinforced by the successful synthesis of threads of other compositions provides a compelling arena of discovery that will spark ever farther-reaching trans-disciplinary interactions over time. Our education and professional development program deploys explicit mechanisms to…