Versatility of chlorination-promoted skeletal transformation pathways in C76 fullerene

Abstract

We present the synthesis and crystal structure of a new chlorinated non-IPR isomer of C₇₆ fullerene, ¹⁸³⁸⁷C₇₆Cl₃₀. The new chloride is formed from IPR-D₂-C₇₆via a sequence of chlorination-promoted Stone–Wales rearrangements concurrently with the previously known non-IPR compound ¹⁸⁹¹⁷C₇₆Cl₂₄. A considerable difference between the two simultaneously forming non-IPR compounds suggests that higher fullerenes can exhibit a much higher versatility of skeletal transformations than the presently known compounds. Our theoretical analysis identifies yet further favorable Stone–Wales pathways in C₇₆ and predicts several stable non-IPR and non-classical (i.e. heptagon-containing) C₇₆ chlorides that may await experimental isolation.