Diels-Alder copolymerization of tetraphenylcyclopentadienone, a precursor for cove graphene nanoribbons (cGNRs), with bifunctional porphyrins yields defined nanostructures comprised of a single cGNR-porphyrin-cGNR heterojunction within each ribbon. ¹³ C NMR labeling and high-resolution mass spectrometry of solubilized polymer intermediates indicates that every porphyrin is covalently linked to two extended segments of cGNRs. UV/Vis absorption and fluorescence emission spectroscopy reveal a strong electronic correlation between the porphyrin and the adjacent cGNR segments that can be attenuated through reversible metalation of the porphyrin core. This versatile bottom-up synthetic strategy provides access to structurally well-defined, functional GNR-quantum dot-GNR heterostructures within a single graphene nanoribbon.

Regulating the complex environment accounting for the stability, selectivity, and activity of catalytic metal nanoparticle interfaces represents a challenge to heterogeneous catalyst design. Here we demonstrate the intrinsic performance enhancement of a composite material composed of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) embedded in a bottom-up synthesized graphene nanoribbon (GNR) matrix for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂. Electrochemical studies reveal that the structural and electronic properties of the GNR composite matrix increase the AuNP electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), lower the requisite CO₂ reduction overpotential by hundreds of millivolts (catalytic onset > -0.2 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)), increase the Faraday efficiency (>90%), markedly improve stability (catalytic performance sustained over >24 h), and increase the total catalytic output (>100-fold improvement over traditional amorphous carbon AuNP supports). The inherent structural and electronic tunability of bottom-up synthesized GNR-AuNP composites affords an unrivaled degree of control over the catalytic environment, providing a means for such profound effects as shifting the rate-determining step in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to CO, and thereby altering the electrocatalytic mechanism at the nanoparticle surface.

Molybdenum carbyne complexes [RC≡Mo(OC(CH3)(CF3)2)3] featuring a mesityl (R = Mes) or an ethyl (R = Et) substituent initiate the living ring-opening alkyne metathesis polymerization of the strained cyclic alkyne, 5,6,11,12-tetradehydrobenzo[a,e][8]annulene, to yield fully conjugated poly(o-phenylene ethynylene). The difference in the steric demand of the polymer end-group (Mes vs Et) transferred during the initiation step determines the topology of the resulting polymer chain. While [MesC≡Mo(OC(CH3)(CF3)2)3] exclusively yields linear poly(o-phenylene ethynylene), polymerization initiated by [EtC≡Mo(OC(CH3)(CF3)2)3] results in cyclic polymers ranging in size from n = 5 to 20 monomer units. Kinetic studies reveal that the propagating species emerging from [EtC≡Mo(OC(CH3)(CF3)2)3] undergoes a highly selective intramolecular backbiting into the butynyl end-group.

Fischer and co-workers present the realization of a porous crystalline two dimensional (2D) covalent organic framework (COF) grown from a polydisperse macromolecular building block. Bottom-up synthesized graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), quasi-one-dimensional (1D) atomically defined strips of single-layer graphene, self-assemble at a liquid-liquid interface into π-stacked 2D sheets cross-linked by diamine spacers. This distinct class of infinitely tunable 2D layered materials is anticipated to give rise to correlated phenomena emerging from the intrinsic anisotropy of constituent 1D GNR building blocks.