Synthesis of flexible nanotweezers with various metals and their application in carbon nanotube extractionElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c8nj00147b

Bisporphyrin-based flexible nanotweezers with various metals were synthesized and applied to the extraction of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Homo- and hetero-metallic bisporphyrins containing Co 2+ were found to afford higher SWNT-extraction ability, while no or a little amount of SWNTs were extracted by bisporphyrins with other metals. Flexible nanotweezers including Co( ii ) dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes in methanol.