Formation of 2,3-diaminophenazines and their self-assembly into nanobelts in aqueous medium

One-dimensional (1D) nanobelts of several hundred micrometers in length, several hundred nanometers in width and several hundred nanometers in height are obtained by direct mixing of ortho-phenylenediamine (oPD) and FeCl3 aqueous solution at room temperature. The nanobelts were characterized by elemental analysis, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS), NMR (1H and 13C), FT-IR, UV–vis, thermogravimetric (TG) and conductivity measurement. The nanobelts are identified as 2,3-diaminophenazine assemblies. The formation of the nanobelts involves two stages: (1) oxidation of oPD by FeCl3, yielding individual 2,3-diaminophenazine molecules; and (2) self-assembly of the 2,3-diaminophenazine, forming the 1D nanobelts. The nanobelts exhibit fairly high thermal stability and show conductivity at the level of semiconductors.