Green, solventless debromination of C70Br10 To C70 with CsI

Abstract

A smooth, solventless and solid state debromination of C70Br10 can be achieved in a CsI matrix with quantitative restoration of the pristine C70 in quantitative yields. The debromination kinetics was studied with FT-IR spectroscopy and according to the pseudofirst order kinetics law, the rate constant was found in the range 3.6–5.2 × 10−5 s−1. The compound C70Br10 was studied with TGA and its thermal decomposition by DSC analysis. From the DSC data both the activation energy for the thermal decomposition of C70Br10 was determined as well as its enthalpy of formation, which has led to some considerations on the relative weakness of C–Br bonds in brominated fullerenes compounds. The debromination mechanism is discussed in terms of unimolecular elimination reaction (E1) in a concerted mechanism which leads to the restoration of the pristine C70 fullerene.