A comparative study of homolytic reactions of fullerenes with aldehydes in a mass spectrometer under electron impact and in solution under UV irradiation.

C(60) was reacted in the ionization chamber of a mass spectrometer under electron impact (EI) with aldehydes, RCHO (R = Ph, p-FC(6)H(4), F(5)C(6), p-MeOC(6)H(4), α-thienyl, o-HOC(6)H(4), o-BrC(6)H(4), m-BrC(6)H(4) and t-Bu), with the transfer of R• radicals and with Me•-transfer from i-PrCHO and t-BuCHO. Paramagnetic fullerene derivatives were stabilized by the addition of the next R• radical or a hydrogen atom, or hydrogen or bromine atom loss. A detailed study showed that the reaction between C(60) and PhCHO occurred via a homolytic mechanism that matches one reported earlier for the reaction with acetone.

Homolytic reactive mass spectrometry of fullerenes: interaction of C60 and C70 with ketones in the electron impact ion source of a mass spectrometer and the comparison of results with those of photochemical reactions of C60 with several ketones in solution.

Our previous investigations showed that homolytic reactions of C(60) with a number of perfluoroorganic and organomercury(II) compounds occurring under electron impact (EI) in the ionization chamber (IC) of a mass spectrometer could predict the reactivity of C(60) towards these compounds in solution or solid state. To expand the scope of this statement, C(60) and C(70) have been reacted with ketones RCOR(1), where R and R(1) are alkyl, aryl, benzyl, and CF(3), in an IC under EI to yield products of the addition of R(·) and R(1)(·) radicals to the fullerenes, paramagnetic ones being stabilized by hydrogen addition and loss. Experimental evidence in support of a mechanism involving homolytic dissociation of ketone molecules via superexcited states to afford these radicals that react with the fullerenes at the IC surface has been obtained.