Novel singlet oxygen generators: the nature and the number of trapped metal atoms in endohedral metallofullerenes M@C82 (M = Dy, Gd, La) and Dy2@C2n (2n = 84–94)

Abstract

Endohedral metallofullerenes M@C₈₂ (M = Dy, Gd, La) and Dy₂@C_2n (2n = 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94) under photolytic conditions, depending on the kind and the number of the entrapped metal atoms, can efficiently sensitize the reaction of olefins with molecular oxygen. Alkenes, 2-methylbut-2-ene and α-terpinene, undergo ene and Diels–Alder photooxygenation reactions, respectively, in the presence of minute amounts of those metallofullerenes to produce the corresponding peroxides.