Diagnosis and Treatment of Neurological and Ischemic Disorders Employing Carbon Nanotube Technology

Figure 2

Oxidation and functionalization of CNTs. Pristine CNT has sidewalls and two tips (a). During oxidation carboxyl groups are attached to the sidewalls and tips (b). Oxidized CNTs are further functionalized by acylation, amidation, and addition reactions (c and d). Drug and fluorescent tags may be inserted inside the CNTs (e). Reproduced with permission from Prato and colleagues [14]. Copyright (2016) American Chemical Society.

(a) CNT molecular structure with sidewalls and tips

(b) CNT oxidation

(c) Oxidized CNT amidation

(d) CNT functionalization by addition reactions (X denotes functional group)

(e) Insertion inside CNTs