Unraveling the Nature and Strength of Non‐Covalent Interactions on the Surface of Fullerenes

Abstract

The nature and strength of the noncovalent intermolecular interactions on the surface of fullerenes must be understood for the application of these molecules in pharmaceuticals and materials chemistry. Consequently, experimental and theoretical evaluations of such weak interactions have been conducted in parallel. Nevertheless, the nature of these interactions remains a topic of ongoing debate. In this context, this concept article summarizes recent advances in experimental and theoretical efforts aimed at characterizing the nature and strength of noncovalent interactions on fullerene surfaces. Specifically, this article summarizes recent studies conducted on host-guest chemistry based on various macrocycles and on catalyst chemistry based on conjugated molecular catalysts composed of fullerenes and amines. In addition, conformational isomerism analyses performed using fullerene-based molecular torsion balances and state-of-the-art computational chemistry are reviewed. These studies have enabled a comprehensive evaluation of the contributions of electrostatic, dispersion, and polar interactions on the surface of fullerenes.

Anion–π catalysis on carbon allotropes

“…The use of fullerenes in catalysis is surprisingly underdeveloped [45][46][47][48][49][50][51]. Anion-π and cation-π interactions on fullerenes attract similarly little attention until today [52][53][54][55][56][57]. Anion-π catalysis on fullerenes has been introduced in 2017 [12].…”

Discovering trends in the Lewis acidity of beryllium and magnesium hydrides and fluorides with increasing clusters size

“…Noncovalent interactions (NCIs), despite being generally rather weak, dictate the properties of many molecular systems and their response to environmental perturbations, playing a fundamental role in chemistry, biology and materials science. Not surprisingly, they receive increasing attention in many different fields, such as supramolecular chemistry and catalysis, [1][2][3] new functional materials, 4 polymers, 5 surface phenomena, [6][7][8] molecular sensors, 9,10 or biochemistry, [11][12][13][14][15] just to cite a few of the most recent contributions in different areas.…”

Synthesis and Conformational Analysis of Fullerene Torsion Balances for Assessing the Contribution of Dispersion and Anionic Character in Non‐Covalent Arene–Fullerene Interactions

“…Furthermore, we measured anionic arene–fullerene interactions, [9] which have not yet been elucidated, by converting a torsion balance bearing a 4‐hydroxyphenyl group to the corresponding phenolate anion. At this point, the electrostatic potential surface of fullerenes is considered to be predominantly positive, contrary to that of benzene [3f,6c] . Therefore, anions are expected to interact more strongly with fullerenes than cations.…”