Chlorination-Promoted Skeletal Transformation of IPR C76 Discovered via Trifluoromethylation under Formation of non-IPR C76(CF3)nFm
Abstract
High-temperature chlorination of Isolated-Pentagon Rule (IPR) D2-C76 fullerene followed by high-temperature trifluoromethylation of non-IPR C76 chlorides with CF3I unexpectedly resulted in a series of non-IPR C76(CF3)nFm compounds. Their separation by means of HPLC followed by single crystal X-ray diffraction study with the use of synchrotron radiation revealed the mixed CF3/F structures of non-classical (NC), non-IPR C76(NC2)(CF3)14, C76(NC2)(CF3)14F2, and C76(NC2)(CF3)16F6, all containing two heptagons, three pairs of fused pentagons, and two triples of sequentially fused pentagons in the carbon cages. The possible pathway from D2-C76 to IPR-violating C76(NC2) cage is suggested on the basis of a topological analysis.