Palladium-Catalyzed Reaction of [60]Fullerene with Aroyl Compounds via Enolate-Mediated sp C-H Bond Activation and Hydroxylation.

A convenient and highly efficient palladium-catalyzed reaction of [60]fullerene (C) with aroyl compounds via enolate-mediated C-H activation and hydroxylation has been exploited for the first time to synthesize novel C-fused dihydrofurans, and rare 1,4-fullerenols. Further functionalization including etherification, and esterification of synthesized 1,4-fullerenols provided efficient access to versatile fullerene derivatives. Moreover, a plausible reaction mechanism leading to the observed products is proposed.

An isomer of C60Cl10 free of skew-pentagonal-pyramidal C60Cl6 substructure.

Chlorination is an effective approach for understanding the feature of multiple additions on fullerene cages. The chlorofullerenes obtained are versatile synthons for further derivatization. However, chlorofullerenes used for chemical reaction studies are mainly based on the skew-pentagonal-pyramidal (SPP) C60Cl6.

Ab initio molecular dynamics simulation on the formation process of He@C₆₀ synthesized by explosion.

The applications of endohedral non-metallic fullerenes are limited by their low production rate. Recently, an explosive method developed in our group shows promise to prepare He@C₆₀ at fairly high yield, but the mechanism of He inserting into C₆₀ cage at explosive conditions was not clear. Here, ab initio molecular dynamics analysis has been used to simulate the collision between C₆₀ molecules at high-temperature and high-pressure induced by explosion.

Study on the thermal reactions of [60]fullerene with amino acids and amino acid esters.

Thermal reactions of [60]fullerene with a series of amino acids and amino acid esters under aerobic and dark conditions have been investigated. Fulleropyrrolidines can be obtained from these reactions although an aldehyde is not added purposely. Possible reaction mechanisms involving uncommon C-N bond cleavages have been proposed to generate aldehydes, which then react with amino acids and amino acid esters to provide azomethine ylides, followed by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to [60]fullerene affording fulleropyrrolidines.