Purification of Small-Cage Endohedral Metallofullerenes Using Wet Chemistry

Abstract

With much attention focused on larger cage metallofullerenes (e.g., Mx@C80-Mx@C100), there is little information available pertaining to metal atoms entrapped within smaller carbon cages (i.e., C70-C78). This is primarily due to their small yield in soot extract and co-eluting HPLC species. In this presentation, our method for isolating these smaller metal-containing cages will be discussed. This approach calls for a two-step isolation protocol in which aminoalkanols react and remove the majority of fullerene contaminants. This sample contains an increased percentage of desired small-cage metallofullerenes. As such, this enriched sample is much more amenable to HPLC fraction collection.