Click Chemistry for Carbon Nanotubes Functionalization

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) display unique structural, chemical and physical properties which make them promising materials for electronic and sensing applications, solar energy conversion, for the realization of composites and in life science. For many of these applications, nanotube functionalization needs to be controlled. So there is a real need for original chemical reactions which allow the modification of carbon nanotubes in a simple way. The emerging field of “click chemistry” has the potential to provide an elegant protocol to prepare carbon nanotube-based functional materials. In particular the Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddtion catalyzed by Cu(I) has been successfully applied to produce nanotube-based innovative materials. This review focuses on this reaction and presents the recent examples described in literature.