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Updated: May 6, 2026

Fabrication, Densification, and Replica Molding of 3D Carbon Nanotube Microstructures
Published on: July 2, 2012
High-Resolution Cryo-Electron Microscopy Reveals the Unique Striated Hollow Structure of Photocatalytic Macrocyclic
Nila Nandha Kadamannil1, Jung-Moo Heo2, Daewoong Jang2
1Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 8410501, Israel.
Abstract:
High-resolution structures are crucial for understanding the functional properties of nanomaterials. We applied single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a method traditionally used for structure determination of biological macromolecules, to obtain high-resolution structures of synthetic non-biological filaments formed by photopolymerization of macrocyclic diacetylene (MDA) amphiphilic monomers. Tomographic analysis showed that the MDA monomers self-assemble into hollow nanotubes upon dispersion in water. Single-particle analysis revealed tubes consisting of six pairs of covalently bonded filaments held together by hydrophobic interactions, where each filament is composed of macrocyclic rings stacked in parallel "chair" conformations. The hollow MDA nanotube structures we found may account for the efficient scavenging of amphiphilic pollutants in water and subsequent photodegradation of the guest species.
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