Simultaneous chirality and enantiomer separation of metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes by gel column chromatography.

We report the chirality and enantiomer separation of metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) using gel chromatography, which has been the last remaining issue in SWCNT separation that has yet to be achieved. The key to the separation is summarized as the following three points: (i) the use of a preseparated metallic SWCNT mixture to eliminate the semiconducting SWCNTs that are more interactive with the gel; (ii) the reduction of the concentration of dispersant to increase the interaction between the metallic SWCNTs and the gel; and (iii) the use of a long column to increase the number of interaction sites that enhance the slight differences between metallic SWCNT species. Using these three separation conditions, we obtained chirality-sorted metallic SWCNTs, especially (10,4) metallic SWCNTs were highly enriched. Circular dichroism spectra demonstrated the enantiomer separation of metallic SWCNTs. The discrimination of the enantiomers is derived from the dextran in the gel, which is the only enantiomeric moiety in this system. This is the first report on the enantiomer separation of metallic SWCNTs and will contribute to progress in the fundamental physics and applications of SWCNTs.