Isolable quantities of C60, the smallest stable fullerene, have been synthesized in 12 steps from commercially available starting materials by rational chemical methods. A molecular polycyclic aromatic precursor bearing chlorine substituents at key positions forms C60 when subjected to flash vacuum pyrolysis at 1100 degrees C. No other fullerenes are formed as by-products. The methods we have developed for the target-specific synthesis of fullerenes, applied here to a synthesis of C60, should make possible the directed laboratory preparation of other fullerenes as well, including those not accessible by graphite vaporization.

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Large substituents are commonly seen as entirely repulsive through steric hindrance. Such groups have additional attractive effects arising from weak London dispersion forces between the neutral atoms. Steric interactions are recognized to have a strong influence on isomerization processes, such as in azobenzene-based molecular switches. Textbooks indicate that steric hindrance destabilizes the Z isomers. Herein, we demonstrate that increasing the bulkiness of electronically equal substituents in the meta-position decreases the thermal reaction rates from the Z to the E isomers. DFT computations revealed that attractive dispersion forces essentially lower the energy of the Z isomers.

Am ajor handicap towards the exploitation of radicals is their inherent instability.I nt he paramagnetic azafullerenyl radical C 59 NC,t he unpaired electron is strongly localized next to the nitrogen atom, which induces dimerization to diamagnetic bis(azafullerene), (C 59 N) 2 .C onventional stabilization by introducing steric hindrance around the radical is inapplicable here because of the concave fullerene geometry. Instead, we developed an innovative radical shielding approach based on supramolecular complexation, exploiting the protection offered by a[ 10]cycloparaphenylene ([10]CPP) nanobelt encircling the C 59 NC radical. Photoinduced radical generation is increased by af actor of 300. The EPR signal showing characteristic 14 Nh yperfine splitting of C 59 NC& [10]CPP was traced even after several weeks,w hichc orresponds to alifetime increase of > 10 8 .The proposed approach can be generalized by tuning the diameter of the employed nanobelts,opening new avenues for the design and exploitation of radical fullerenes.