Diamonds are a Chemist's Best Friend: Diamondoid Chemistry Beyond Adamantane

Graphical Abstract

Diamondoids are forever: The increasing availability of diamondoids in large amounts from crude oil opens the door to a virtually unstudied class of carbon-rich materials. These diamond nanostructures not only have well-defined structures but also represent the most stable form of hydrocarbons on the nanometer scale. Their functionalization and characterization has resulted in compounds that are ready for testing as pharmaceuticals, coatings, polymers, molecular junctions, and electronic devices.

Abstract

Marilyn Monroe knew that “diamonds are a girl's best friend” but, in the meantime, many chemists have realized that they are also extremely attractive objects in contemporary chemistry. The chemist's diamonds are usually quite small (herein: nanometer-sized “diamondoids”) and as a result of their unique structure are unusual chemical building blocks. Since lower diamondoids (up to triamantane) have recently become available in large amounts from petroleum and higher diamondoids (starting from tetramantane) are now also accessible from crude oil new research involving them has begun to emerge. Having well-defined structures makes these cage compounds so special compared to other nanometer-scale diamonds. Selective and high-yielding synthetic approaches to the functionalization of diamondoids gives derivatives that can find applications in, for example, polymers, coating materials, drugs, and molecular electronics.