Maarten van Wijnkoop, Mohamed F. Meidine, Anthony G. Avent, Adam D. Darwish, Harold W. Kroto, Roger Taylor and David R. M. Walton
Reaction of [60]fullerene with [Pt(cod)2] (cod = cycloocta-1,5-diene) resulted in facile displacement of the cod ligand to form black-brown insoluble PtC60. The reaction of a tetrahydrofuran suspension of PtC60 with bidentate diphosphines L–L = Ph2P(CH2)n PPh2 (n = 2 or 3) gave rise to cleavage of the carbon–platinum bond and formation of the [Pt(η2-C60)(L–L)] complexes, which were characterised spectroscopically. The latter complexes can also be readily prepared in a one-pot synthesis by slowly adding an equimolar amount of [Pt(cod)2] to a solution of [60]fullerene and the corresponding diphosphine in toluene.