Integration of Nanographenes and Organic Chemistry - Toward Nanographene-based Two-Dimensional Materials

Graphene and its relatives have received considerable attention from the fields of physics and chemistry since the isolation of pristine graphene sheets. Nanographenes (NGs) are graphene fragments that are a few to tens of nanometers in diameter. Compared to graphene and its relatives, such as graphene oxides, NGs can be handled more easily, and their large π surface and oxygen functional groups on the edge allow postsynthetic modifications. The study of NGs is gradually shifting from the development of synthetic procedures to postsynthetic modification. From the structural point of view, NGs can be regarded as two-dimensional carbon polymers. Their unique structures and affinity for organic molecules make NGs excellent scaffolds for two-dimensional materials, which are now an important topic in organic and polymer chemistry. In this conceptual article, we introduce the position of NGs from the perspective of two-dimensional substances and briefly review both the structural features of NGs and the effects of functionalization on their physical properties. These are valuable when producing reasonable strategies for their postsynthetic modifications.