Pyrene Containing Polymers for the Non-Covalent Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes

Pyrene containing diblock copolymers based on poly(methyl methacrylate) were synthesized and investigated regarding their adsorption on carbon nanotubes (CNT). The pyrene units were introduced using a reactive ester monomer for the build up of the second block which later on was reacted polymer-analogously with amine functionalized pyrene derivatives. As we started from the same reactive ester intermediate, full block length identity is given. We varied the length of the anchor block to find an optimal block length and used pyren-1-yl-methylamine as well as 4-pyren-1-yl-butylamine as anchor units. For both anchor units a maximal adsorption was found for 13 and 20 anchor units, respectively. The absolute adsorption was best for the 4-pyren-1-yl-butylamine anchor units as the longer spacer enhances the mobility of the anchor unit. The dispersion diagram of CNTs and diblock copolymer in terms of dispersion stability was investigated and a stable dispersion of 2.5 mg.ml(-1) CNTs in THF was found.