Metallofullerenes with Single Carbon Atom in the Endohedral Cluster

The clusterfullerenes with carbon in the endohedral clusters is the most versatile family in terms of possible cluster compositions ^1,2. In addition to its obvious role of forming the fullerene cage, carbon is also found in the core of several types of endohedral clusters, including carbide clusterfullerenes, cyano clusterfullerenes, and more complex cluster. Two types of EMFs with single clusterfullerenes were reported so far, Sc3CH@C80, in which the central carbon atom is bonded by a hydrogen ³, and TiLu₂C@C₈₀, in which the μ₃-carbido ligand forms a double bond with Ti atom ⁴. Both types of structures were found as minor components in the synthesis of other EMFs (viz. nitride clusterfullerenes). In this work we report on the advancement in the synthesis of such structure and their detailed characterization. In particular, the crucial role of methane as a reactive gas in the arc-discharge synthesis will be discussed.

(1)          Lu, X.; Akasaka, T.; Nagase, S. Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 1627.

(2)          Jin, P.; Tang, C.; Chen, Z. Coord. Chem. Rev. 2014, 270-271, 89.

(3)          Krause, M.; Ziegs, F.; Popov, A. A.; Dunsch, L. ChemPhysChem 2007, 8, 537.

(4)          Svitova, A. L.; Ghiassi, K.; Schlesier, C.; Junghans, K.; Zhang, Y.; Olmstead, M.; Balch, A.; Dunsch, L.; Popov, A. A. Nat. Commun. 2014, 5, 3568.