The laboratory developed a unique and original supramolecular approach for the sorting of SWNTs in water according to the nanotube helicity. In our strategy, specifically designed and geometrically constrained polyaromatic amphiphiles are used as molecular to sort armchair, chiral or zigzag SWNTs. The nanotubes’ sorting is revealed by analyzing the SWNTs samples by fluorescent and resonant Raman spectroscopies. 

Because of their hydrophobic properties and peculiar shape, carbon nanotubes are potent templates for the self assembly of amphiphilic molecules such as synthetic lipids. The laboratory demonstrated that lipids can self organize on the surface of SWNTs into regular ring shaped assemblies. We recently reported that these lipidic assemblies can be polymerized and isolated from the nanotube template by application of an electric field. The obtained assemblies can dissolve various hydrophobic or amphiphilic guest molecules in water.