Engineering of carbon based nanomaterials by ring-opening reactions of a reactive azlactone graphene platform.

A reactive azlactone-based graphene nanoplatform was successfully synthesized by the ligation of azido-azlactone with alkyne-terminated graphene via Cu(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition. The reactive azlactone rings, grafted on graphene sheets, were subjected to highly efficient ring-opening reactions with functionalized primary amine derivatives incorporating an aminosilane coupling agent or a biological fragment.