A custom-tailored single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) photocatalyst with an electron-extracting TiOx shell, i.e., a SWCNT/fullerodendron/TiOx coaxial nanowire, has been fabricated. Due to the presence of the TiOx shell, the SWCNT/fullerodendron/TiOx coaxial nanowire shows an enhanced photocatalytic activity (Φ = 0.47) for the evolution of hydrogen from water under irradiation with visible light (λ = 450 nm).

A simple sol–gel condensation of tin(IV) tert-butoxide led to the formation of meso/macroporous membranes. SEM observation clearly shows the cylindrical macropore array, of which mean pore diameter is controllable between 200 and 800 nm. The existence of slit-shaped mesopores (12 nm) was confirmed by a N2 adsorption–desorption experiment.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the presence of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) /fullerodendron supramolecular nanocomposites was crystallized with a CO2 diffusion method under ambient conditions and in aqueous environments to produce monodisperse spherical SWCNT/CaCO3 hybrids with a core-shell structure. The crystals nucleate at the carboxyl groups on the surface of the SWCNT/fullerodendron supramolecular nanocomposites grow around a spherical scaffold consisting of the SWCNTs, and finally form spherical calcite crystals embedded with and covered by the SWCNTs. Owing to of the phase transition from vaterite to calcite through a solvent-mediated process, the morphology of the microspheres is unique; the shell is primarily composed of calcite crystals of CaCO3, and a greater amount of SWCNTs is embedded in the core moiety.

The methanol solution of G4.5 COONa-terminated PAMAM dendrimer displayed strong blue luminescence (λmax = 445 nm) under UV irradiation at 370 nm and fluorescence intensity increased with fluoride ions. On the other hand, the remarkable changes of fluorescence spectra of the dendrimer solutions were not observed in the presence of other halogen anions (Cl–, Br–, and I–). This result suggested that the PAMAM dendrimer is useful as fluoride ion selective sensor in methanol.

A new Cd10S16 molecular cluster dendrimer has been prepared and characterized; photooxygenation reaction using the molecular cluster dendrimer as a photosensitizer was successful.

A newly designed anthracene derivative having gluconamides at its peripheral branches formed a photo-responsive hydrogel. SEM observation of the xerogel showed a network structure consisting of fibrils. Upon photoirradiation (λ >300 nm) of the hydrogel, regioselective photodimerization of the anthracene moiety occurred to give head-to-tail photodimers and the physical state changed from the gel to the sol.

Novel surface-block dendrimer was synthesized via a divergent/convergent approach using [4+4] photocycloaddition of two different anthracenes bearing a newly designed dendritic substituent, of which terminal groups are long alkyl chains for one hemisphere and oligo(ethylene oxide) chains for the other hemisphere. A solution of the two different anthryl dendrons was irradiated with a high-pressure mercury lamp to afford a hetero-dimer, which consists of the two different dendrons. The surface-block dendrimer was isolated by the use of size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and well characterized by NMR spectrum, SEC, and MALDI-TOF-Mass spectrum. Furthermore, this paper describes a ratio of the photoproducts (the hetero-dimer and two homo-dimers) that were obtained from the photocycloaddition reactions carried out in neat and an emulsion condition, along with the solution.

A new Cd10S16 molecular cluster dendrimer has been prepared and characterized; photooxygenation reaction using the molecular cluster dendrimer as a photosensitizer was successful.

A newly designed anthracene derivative having gluconamides at its peripheral branches formed a photo-responsive hydrogel. SEM observation of the xerogel showed a network structure consisting of fibrils. Upon photoirradiation (λ >300 nm) of the hydrogel, regioselective photodimerization of the anthracene moiety occurred to give head-to-tail photodimers and the physical state changed from the gel to the sol.