[60]fullerene radical cation reactions and mechanism

Siedschlag C, Dunsch L, Ito O, Mattay J. [60]fullerene radical cation reactions and mechanism. JOURNAL OF INFORMATION RECORDING. 2000;25(3-4):265-271.[60]Fullerene is oxidized to its radical cation at preparative scale by means of photoinduced electron transfer (PET). In general, C-60(.+) reacts with various H-donors such as alcohols, aldehydes, ethers etc., under formation of 1,2-dihydro[60]fullerenes. In case of tert-butanol, propionic acid and glycol, for example, product formation is also initiated by H-abstraction from the OH group. Both time-resolved laser flash photolysis studies and ESR spectroscopic investigations clearly demonstrate the formation of C-60(.+) using PET conditions. Upon addition of H-donors such as methanol the signal of C-60(.+) is quenched as monitored both by laser flash photolysis and ESR spectroscopy. Based on these studies we assume the oxidation of C-60 followed by abstraction of hydrogen from the H-donor