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Updated: Oct 27, 2025

Microscopic Visualization of Porous Nanographenes Synthesized through a Combination of Solution and On-Surface Chemistry
Published on: March 4, 2021
Helically Arranged Chiral Molecular Nanographenes
Patricia Izquierdo-García1, Jesús M Fernández-García1, Israel Fernández1
1Departamento de Química Orgánica I, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
A benchtop solution-phase synthesis of molecular nanographenes composed of two orthogonal dibenzo[fg,ij]phenanthro[9,10,1,2,3-pqrst]pentaphene (DBPP) moieties covalently connected through a tetrafluorobenzene ring is described. The helical arrangement of these three covalently linked molecular fragments leads to the existence of a chiral axis which gives rise to a racemic mixture, even with the molecular moieties being symmetrically substituted. X-ray diffraction studies show that both enantiomers cocrystallize in a single crystal, and the racemic mixture can be resolved by chiral HPLC. Asymmetric substitution in DBPP moieties affords a pair of diastereoisomers whose rotational isomerization has been studied by 1H NMR. Additionally, the electrochemical and photophysical properties derived from these new molecular nanographenes reveal an electroactive character and a significant fluorescent behavior.
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