Silylesterification of oxidized multi-wall carbon nanotubes by catalyzed dehydrogenative cross-coupling between carboxylic and hydrosilane functions

Surface modification of oxidized carbon nanotubes (O-CNTs) with silicon based anchoring groups (R-SiR_′3) is a relatively uncommon approach of the CNTs functionalization. Hydrosilane derivatives constitute an attractive subclass of compounds for silanization reactions on the CNTs surface. In this work, we report on the ZnCl₂ catalytically controlled reaction (hydrosilane dehydrogenative cross-coupling, DHCC) of fluorinated hydrosilane probes with the carboxylic functions present on the surface of oxidized multi-wall carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes functionalized with essentially alcohol groups are also used to compare the selectivity of zinc chloride toward carboxylic groups. To assess the efficiency of functionalization, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy is used to determine the qualitative and quantitative composition of the different samples. Solubility tests on the oxidized and silanized MWNTs are also carried out in the framework of the Hansen Solubility Parameters (HSP) theory to apprehend at another scale the effect of DHCC.