Polymerized nanotube structures – new zeolites?

Polymers of single-wall carbon nanotubes – possible new zeolites – are modeled by molecular mechanics (MM2 calculation method). The polymerization at issue occurs by bonding of 6 sp3 atomic pairs in each nanotube unit cell with similar atomic pairs located on 6 neighboring tubes like 2+2 cycloaddition in a rhombic two-dimensional C60 polymer. It is shown these bonding in armchair (n, n) SWNT ropes (n=6, 8, 10, 12) changes positive radial curvature of tube segments to a negative one.