Issue 1, 2018

Small molecular organic nanocrystals resemble carbon nanodots in terms of their properties

Abstract

The most commonly observed phenomena in carbon nanodots (CNDs) are the strong excitation wavelength dependent multicolor fluorescence emission and the particle size distribution between 3–5 nm observed using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). However, it is not evident yet whether the emission originates from the particles observed using a TEM. In this article, we show that hydrothermal treatment of citric acid produces methylenesuccinic acid, which gives rise to hydrogen-bonded nano-assemblies with CND-like properties. While single crystal X-ray crystallography confirms the structure of methylenesuccinic acid, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) confirms the presence of a molecular fluorophore with an average hydrodynamic diameter of ∼0.9 nm. This size is much smaller than the size of the particles observed using a TEM. We conclude that the particles observed using a TEM are the drying mediated nanocrystals of methylenesuccinic acid.

Graphical abstract: Small molecular organic nanocrystals resemble carbon nanodots in terms of their properties

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
06 jun. 2017
Accepted
16 oct. 2017
First published
16 oct. 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 175-180

Small molecular organic nanocrystals resemble carbon nanodots in terms of their properties

S. Khan, A. Sharma, S. Ghoshal, S. Jain, M. K. Hazra and C. K. Nandi, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 175 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC02528A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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