Small molecular organic nanocrystals resemble carbon nanodots in terms of their properties.
Syamantak KhanAkshita SharmaSourav GhoshalSanjhal JainMontu K HazraChayan Kanti NandiPublished in: Chemical science (2017)
The most commonly observed phenomena in carbon nanodots (CNDs) are the strong excitation wavelength dependent multicolor fluorescence emission and the particle size distribution between 3-5 nm observed using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). However, it is not evident yet whether the emission originates from the particles observed using a TEM. In this article, we show that hydrothermal treatment of citric acid produces methylenesuccinic acid, which gives rise to hydrogen-bonded nano-assemblies with CND-like properties. While single crystal X-ray crystallography confirms the structure of methylenesuccinic acid, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) confirms the presence of a molecular fluorophore with an average hydrodynamic diameter of ∼0.9 nm. This size is much smaller than the size of the particles observed using a TEM. We conclude that the particles observed using a TEM are the drying mediated nanocrystals of methylenesuccinic acid.