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Science 4 June 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5676, pp. 1481 - 1483
DOI: 10.1126/science.1097789
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Reports

Self-Assembled Hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene Graphitic Nanotube

Jonathan P. Hill,1 Wusong Jin,1 Atsuko Kosaka,1 Takanori Fukushima,1* Hideki Ichihara,2 Takeshi Shimomura,2 Kohzo Ito,2 Tomihiro Hashizume,3 Noriyuki Ishii,4 Takuzo Aida1*

An amphiphilic hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene self-assembles to form a {pi}-electronic, discrete nanotubular object. The object is characterized by an aspect ratio greater than 1000 and has a uniform, 14-nanometer-wide, open-ended hollow space, which is an order of magnitude larger than those of carbon nanotubes. The wall is 3 nanometers thick and consists of helical arrays of the {pi}-stacked graphene molecule, whose exterior and interior surfaces are covered by hydrophilic triethylene glycol chains. The graphitic nanotube is redox active, and a single piece of the nanotube across 180-nanometer-gap electrodes shows, upon oxidation, an electrical conductivity of 2.5 megohms at 285 kelvin. This family of molecularly engineered graphite with a one-dimensional tubular shape and a chemically accessible surface constitutes an important step toward molecular electronics.

1 Aida Nanospace Project, Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, 2-41 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan.
2 Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba 277-8561, Japan.
3 Advanced Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., Hatoyama, Saitama 350-0395, Japan.
4 Biological Information Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba Central-6, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: fukushima{at}nanospace.miraikan.jst.go.jp (T.F.); aida{at}macro.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp (T.A.)

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)