| Abstract
| - The chemical reduction of graphite oxide (GO) to graphite by either NaBH4 or hydroquinone and alsoits surface modification with neutral, primary aliphatic amines and amino acids are described. Treatmentof GO with NaBH4 leads to turbostatic graphite that upon calcination under an inert atmosphere istransformed to highly ordered graphitic carbon, while the reduction with hydroquinone yields directlycrystalline graphite under soft thermal conditions. On account of the surface-exposed epoxy groups presentin the GO solid, its surface modification with neutral, primary aliphatic amines or amine-containingmolecules (amino acids and aminosiloxanes) takes place easily through the corresponding nucleophilicsubstitution reactions. In this way, valuable GO derivatives can be obtained, like molecular pillared GO,organically modified GO affording in organic solvents stable organosols or hydrophilic GO affording inwater stable hydrosols and possessing direct cation exchange sites. The potential combination of surfacemodification and chemical reduction of GO in producing novel graphite based materials is also presented.
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