The adsorption of molecular deuterium (D 2 ) onto charged cobalt-fullerene-complexes Co n C 60 + (n = 1-8) is measured experimentally in a few-collision reaction cell. The reactivity is strongly size-dependent, hinting at clustering of the transition metal atoms on the fullerenes. Formation and desorption rate constants are obtained from the pressure-dependent deuterogenation curves. DFT calculations indeed find that this transition metal clustering is energetically more favorable than decorating the fullerene. For n = 1, D 2 is predicted to bind molecularly and for n = 2 dissociative and molecular configurations are quasi-isoenergetic. For n = 3-8, dissociation of D 2 is thermodynamically preferred. However, reaching the ground state configuration with dissociated deuterium on the timescale of the experiment may be hindered by dissociation barriers.[a] Dr.

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