Properties of sizeable [n]cycloparaphenylenes as molecular models of single-wall carbon nanotubes elucidated by Raman spectroscopy: structural and electron-transfer responses under mechanical stress.

[n]Cycloparaphenylenes behave as molecular templates of "perfectly chemically defined" single-wall carbon nanotubes. These [n]CPP molecules have electronic, mechanical, and chemical properties in size correspondence with their giant congeners. Under mechanical stress, they form charge-transfer salts, or complexes with fullerene, by one-electron concave-convex electron transfer.