Microwave-Assisted thiol-ene click chemistry of carbon nanoforms

Carbon nanoforms (CNFs, including graphene, carbon nanotube and fullerene) were functionalized via microwave- assisted thiol-ene click chemistry. Different functional CNFs with -COOH, -NH2, -NH3Cl,-Si(OCH3)(3), alkyl and furyl groups were obtained and characterized by XPS, EDS, TGA, Raman spectroscopy and MALDI-TOF MS. Microwave was much more efficient to promote reactions than traditional thermal method. XPS confirmed the binding energy of C-S-C (163.3ev) the modified CNFs. Raman spectroscopy showed increasing I-D/I-G and A(D)/A(G) of graphene and CNT after thiol-ene addition reaction. The result of MALDI-TOF MS indicated that the thiol-containing molecules were attached on fullerene. All these results indicated the successful thiol-ene click reactions between CNFs and thiol-containing molecules under microwave. TGA analysis results showed the mass loss of the modified CNFs, which provided that AIBN and 3-merlaptopropionic acid were the most efficient initiator and monomer, respectively. In summary, the microwave-assisted thiol-ene click reaction provided a powerful chemical tool for the preparation of functional CNFs materials.