The frontier orbitals of 22 isolated and characterized C(60)(CF(3))(n) derivatives, including seven reported here for the first time, have been investigated by electronic spectroscopy (n = 2 [1], 4 [1], 6 [2], 8 [5], 10 [6], 12 [3]; the number of isomers for each composition is shown in square brackets) fluorescence spectroscopy (n = 10 [4]), cyclic voltammetry under air-free conditions (all compounds with n

A significant improvement in the selectivity of fullerene trifluoromethylation reactions was achieved. Reaction of trifluoroiodomethane with [60]fullerene at 460 degrees C and [70]fullerene at 470 degrees C in a flow reactor led to isolation of cold-zone-condensed mixtures of C60(CF3)n and C70(CF3)n compounds with narrow composition ranges: 6 < or = n < or = 12 for C(60)(CF3)n and 8 < or = n < or = 14 for C70(CF3)n. The predominant products in the C(60) reaction, an estimated 40+ mol % of the cold-zone condensate, were three isomers of C60(CF3)10. Two of these were purified by two-stage HPLC to 80+% isomeric purity. The third isomer was purified by three-stage HPLC to 95% isomeric purity. Thirteen milligrams of this orange-brown compound was isolated (5% overall yield based on C60, and its C1-symmetric structure was determined to be 1,3,7,10,14,17,23,28,31,40-C60(CF3)10 by X-ray crystallography. The CF3 groups are either meta or para to one another on a p-m-p-p-p-m-p-m-p ribbon of edge-sharing C6(CF3)2 hexagons (each pair of adjacent hexagons shares a common CF3 group). The selectivity of the C70 reaction was even higher. The predominant product was a single C70(CF3)10 isomer representing >40 mol % of the cold-zone condensate. Single-stage HPLC led to the isolation of 12 mg of this brown compound in 95% isomeric purity (27% overall yield based on converted C70. The new compounds were characterized by EI or S(8)-MALDI mass spectrometry and 2D-COSY 19F NMR spectroscopy. The NMR data demonstrate that through-space coupling via direct overlap of fluorine orbitals is the predominant contribution to J(FF) values in these and most other fullerene(CF3)n compounds.

Eight new C70(CF3)n derivatives (n=2, 6, 10, 12) have been synthesized and characterized by UV/Vis and 19F NMR spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and quantum chemical calculations at the DFT level of theory. Nine previously known derivatives of C70(CF3)n with n=2-12 were also studied by cyclic voltammetry (and seven of them by UV/Vis spectroscopy for the first time). Most of the 17 compounds exhibited two or three reversible reductions at scan rates from 20 mV s(-1) up to 5.0 V s(-1). In general, reduction potentials for the 0/- couple are shifted anodically relative to the C70 0/-) couple. However, the 0/- E1/2 values for a given composition are strongly dependent on the addition pattern of the CF3 groups. The data show that the addition pattern is as important, if not more important in some cases, than the number of substituents, n, in determining E1/2 values. An analysis of the DFT-predicted LUMOs indicates that addition patterns that have non-terminal double bonds in pentagons result in derivatives that are strong electron acceptors.

Reaction of C(60) with CF(3)I at 550 degrees C, which is known to produce a single isomer of C(60)(CF(3))(2,4,6) and multiple isomers of C(60)(CF(3))(8,10), has now been found to produce an isomer of C(60)(CF(3))(6) with the C(s)-C(60)X(6) skew-pentagonal-pyramid (SPP) addition pattern and an epoxide with the C(s)-C(60)X(4)O variation of the SPP addition pattern, C(s)-C(60)(CF(3))(4)O. The structurally similar epoxide C(s)-C(60)(C(2)F(5))(4)O is one of the products of the reaction of C(60) with C(2)F(5)I at 430 degrees C. The three compounds have been characterized by mass spectrometry, DFT quantum chemical calculations, Raman, visible, and (19)F NMR spectroscopy, and, in the case of the two epoxides, single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The compound C(s)-C(60)(CF(3))(6) is the first [60]fullerene derivative with adjacent R(f) groups that are sufficiently sterically hindered to cause the (DFT-predicted) lengthening of the cage (CF(3))C-C(CF(3)) bond to 1.60 A as well as to give rise to a rare, non-fast-exchange-limit (19)F NMR spectrum at 20 degrees C. The compounds C(s)-C(60)(CF(3))(4)O and C(s)-C(60)(C(2)F(5))(4)O are the first poly(perfluoroalkyl)fullerene derivatives with a non-fluorine-containing exohedral substituent and the first fullerene epoxides known to be stable at elevated temperatures. All three compounds demonstrate that the SPP addition pattern is at least kinetically stable, if not thermodynamically stable, at temperatures exceeding 400 degrees C. The high-temperature synthesis of the two epoxides also indicates that perfluoroalkyl substituents can enhance the thermal stability of fullerene derivatives with other substituents.

Adding 1% of the metallic elements cerium, lanthanum, and yttrium to graphite rod electrodes resulted in different amounts of the hollow higher fullerenes (HHFs) C76-D2(1), C78-C2v(2), and C78-C2v(3) in carbon-arc fullerene-containing soots. The reaction of trifluoroiodomethane with these and other soluble HHFs at 520-550 degrees C produced 21 new C76,78,84,90(CF3)n derivatives (n = 6, 8, 10, 12, 14). The reaction with C76-D2(1) produced an abundant isomer of C2-(C76-D2(1))(CF3)10 plus smaller amounts of an isomer of C1-(C76-D2(1))(CF3)6, two isomers of C1-(C76-D2(1))(CF3)8, four isomers of C1-(C76-D2(1))(CF3)10, and one isomer of C2-(C76-D2(1))(CF3)12. The reaction with a mixture of C78-D3(1), C78-C2v(2), and C78-C2v(3) produced the previously reported isomer C1-(C78-C2v(3))(CF3)12 (characterized by X-ray crystallography in this work) and the following new compounds: C2-(C78-C2v(3))(CF3)8; C2-(C78-D3(1))(CF3)10 and C(s)-(C78-C2v(2))(CF3)10 (both characterized by X-ray crystallography in this work); C2-(C78-C2v(2))(CF3)10; and C1-C78(CF3)14 (cage isomer unknown). The reaction of a mixture of soluble higher fullerenes including C84 and C90 produced the new compounds C1-C84(CF3)10 (cage isomer unknown), C1-(C84-C2(11))(CF3)12 (X-ray structure reported recently), D2-(C84-D2(22))(CF3)12, C2-(C84-D2(22))(CF3)12, C1-C84(CF3)14 (cage isomer unknown), C1-(C90-C1(32))(CF3)12, and another isomer of C1-C90(CF3)12 (cage isomer unknown). All compounds were studied by mass spectrometry, (19)F NMR spectroscopy, and DFT calculations. An analysis of the addition patterns of these compounds and three other HHF(X) n compounds with bulky X groups has led to the discovery of the following addition-pattern principle for HHFs: In general, the most pyramidal cage C(sp(2)) atoms in the parent HHF, which form the most electron-rich and therefore the most reactive cage C-C bonds as far as 1,2-additions are concerned, are not the cage C atoms to which bulky substituents are added. Instead, ribbons of edge-sharing p-C6(X)2 hexagons, with X groups on less pyramidal cage C atoms, are formed, and the otherwise "most reactive" fullerene double bonds remain intact.

Quantum chemical calculations and NMR spectroscopic data suggest that the two isomers of Y@C82(CF3)5 prepared by trifluoromethylation of the endohedral metallofullerene (EMF) contain chains of four 1,4‐C6(CF3)2 edge‐sharing hexagons (see picture). In striking contrast to the empty fullerenes, which form complex mixtures with up to 22 CF3 groups, EMF Y@C82 only forms products with one, three, and five CF3 groups.

From the equator to the pole: The high‐temperature, high‐yield C1 isomer of C70(CF3)10 has an unprecedented structure. The CF3 groups belong to a para7–meta–para ribbon of edge‐sharing C6(CF3)2 hexagons, which wraps around the equator of the C70 cage and then climbs up to one of the poles. Calculations demonstrate that this isomer is more stable than the structures observed for C70Br10 and C70(tBuOO)10.

Milligram amounts of the new compounds 1,9- and 1,7-C60F(CF3) (ca. 85:15 mixture of isomers) and C60F3(CF3) were isolated from a high-temperature C60/K2PtF6 reaction mixture and purified to 98 mol % compositional purity by two-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatography using Buckyprep and Buckyclutcher columns. The previously observed compounds C60F5(CF3) and C60F7(CF3) were also purified to 90+ mol % for the first time. Variable-temperature 19F NMR spectra of the mixture of C60F(CF3) isomers and the previously reported mixture of C(s)- and C1-C60F17(CF3) isomers demonstrate for the first time that fullerene(F)n(CF3)m derivatives with adjacent F and CF3 substituents exhibit slow-exchange limit hindered CF3 rotation spectra at -40 +/- 10 degrees C. The experimental and density functional theory (DFT) predicted deltaH++ values for CF3 rotation in 1,9-C60F(CF3) are 46.8(7) and 46 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The DFT-predicted deltaH++ values for 1,7-C60F(CF3), C(s)-C60F17(CF3), and C1-C60F17(CF3) are 20, 44, and 54 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The (> or = 4)J(FF) values from the slow-exchange-limit 19F spectra, which vary from ca. 0 to 48(1) Hz, show that the dominant nuclear spin-spin coupling mechanism is through-space coupling (i.e., direct overlap of fluorine atom lone-pair orbitals) rather than coupling through the sigma-bond framework. The 2J(FF) values within the CF3 groups vary from 107(1) to 126(1) Hz. Collectively, the NMR data provide an unambiguous set of (> or = 4)J(FF) values for three different compounds that can be correlated with DFT-predicted or X-ray diffraction derived distances and angles and an unambiguous set of 2J(FF) values that can serve as an internal standard for all future J(FF) calculations.