New Endohedral Fullerenes Containing Uranium

Abstract

In 1992, Smalley et al reported (Science 1992, 257, 1661) the mass spectral detection of a family of endohedral fullerene compounds containing uranium inside the carbon cages. These series included: U@C58, U@C60, U@C68, U2@C50, U@C70, U2@C52, U@C72, U2@C58, and U2@C60, but none of these compounds were isolated or otherwise characterized. In 2007, Lu et al reported theoretical calculations for U2@C60 and predicted that the encapsulated uranium dimer would exhibit a sextuple metal-metal bond. We have succeeded in producing, detecting and partially isolating a totally new family of endohedral uranium-containing fullerenes, including: U2C78, U2C79, U2C80 and U2C81, see attached figure for the corresponding MALDI. The synthesis, purification and partial characterization of these new endohedral compounds will be presented and discussed. Figure 1