Structure and properties of the fullerene dimer C140 produced by pressure treatment of C70

• A [2+2] cycloaddition cap-to-cap C70 dimer with C2h molecular symmetry was synthesized in high yield by pressure treatment of polycrystalline C70 at 1 GPa and 200° C. It was separated from unreacted monomers by chromatography and characterized by 13C NMR, Raman, and infrared spectroscopy, and other methods. Remarkably, only one isomer was produced out of the five possible [2+2] cycloaddition products which have equally low formation energies according to semiempirical modeling calculations. The dimer obtained is the one favored when C70 molecules adopt an ordered packing with parallel D5 axes. The intercage bonding in C140, its thermal stability, and intercage vibrational modes are similar to those found for the C60 dimer, C120. Both dimers photodissociate to the monomers in solution, probably via excited triplet states. The UV absorption and fluorescence properties of C140 are not very different from those of C70, suggesting only weak electronic interactions between the two cages of C140. In comparison, the pressure-induced dimerization of C60, under the conditions used for C70, results mainly in C60 oligomers and polymeric chains, but the dimer C120 could be isolated at low yield when short reaction times (≤5 min) were used.

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Annan fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Other Physics Topics (hsv//eng)

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