Solid-state structures of peapod bearings composed of finite single-wall carbon nanotube and fullerene molecules

A supramolecular combination of carbon nanotube and fullerene, so-called a peapod, has attracted much interest, not solely because of its physical properties but also for its unique assembled structures of carbonaceous entities. However, the detailed structural information available was not sufficient for in-depth understanding of its structural chemistry or for exploratory research inspired by novel physical phenomena, mainly because of the severely inhomogeneous nature of currently available carbon nanotubes. We herein report solid-state structures of a molecular peapod. This structure, solved with a belt-persistent finite carbon nanotube molecule at the atomic level by synchrotron X-ray diffraction, revealed the presence of a smooth, inflection-free Hirshfeld surface inside the tube, and the smoothness permitted dynamic motion of the C₆₀ guest molecule even in the solid state. This precise structural information may inspire the molecular design of carbonaceous machines assembled purely through van der Waals contacts between two neutral molecules.