Endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs) have attracted much more attention since the synthesis of Sc₃N@C₈₀ by Dorn and co-workers in Virginia Tech,¹ the third most abundant fullerene after C₆₀ and C₇₀. In the last twenty years, the synthesis, characterization and applications of this new family of compounds has grown dramatically. It is well known that empty fullerenes tend to follow the isolated pentagon rule (IPR), which requires that each of the 12 pentagons is only surrounded by hexagons. However, many violations to this rule have been reported for endohedral metallofullerenes. In this paper, we will report some of our most recent studies on the formation endohedral metallofullerenes at high temperatures,² focusing mainly on the presence of metal-metal interactions in the stabilization of diactinide endohedral fullerenes.^3,4

References

¹ S. Stevenson, G. Rice, T. Glass, K. Harich, F. Cromer, M. R. Jordan, J. Craft, E. Hadju, R. Bible, M. M. Olmstead, K. Maitra, A. J. Fisher, A. L. Balch and H. C. Dorn, Nature, 1999, 401, 55–57.

² W. Cai, L. Abella, J. Zhuang, X. Zhang, L. Feng, Y. Wang, R. Morales-Martínez, R. Esper, M. Boero, A. Metta-Magaña, A. Rodríguez-Fortea, J. M. Poblet, L. Echegoyen, and N. Chen J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 18039-18050.

³ X. Zhang, Y. Wang, R. Morales-Martínez, J. Zhong, C. de Graaf, A. Rodríguez-Fortea, J. M Poblet, L. Echegoyen, L. Feng, N. Chen J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 3907-3915

⁴ J. Zhuang, R. Morales-Martínez, J. Zhang, Y. Wang, Y.-R. Yao, C. Pei, A. Rodríguez-Fortea, S. Wang, L. Echegoyen, C. de Graaf, J. M Poblet, N. Chen, Nat. Commun. 2021, 12, 2372.