A rational synthetic approach to the first four-membered ring-containing derivatives of C(62) is reported. They were synthesized by an inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction of 3,6-diaryl-1,2,4,5-tetrazines with C(60) in o-dichlorobenzene, followed by visible light irradiation at reflux. The structure of these nonclassical fullerenes derivatives was determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction.

The interconversion of the two allotropes of the hydrogen molecule (para-H2 and ortho-H2) incarcerated inside the fullerene C60 is reported (oH2@C60 and pH2@C60, respectively). For conversion, oH2@C60 was adsorbed at the external surface of the zeolite NaY and immersed into liquid oxygen at 77 K. Equilibrium was reached in less than 0.5 h. Rapid removal of oxygen provides a sample of enriched pH2@C60 that is stable for many days in the absence of paramagnetic catalysts (half-life approximately 15 days). Enriched pH2@C60 is nonvolatile and soluble in organic solvents. At room temperature in the presence of a paramagnetic catalyst (dissolved O2 or the nitroxide Tempo) a slow back conversion into oH2@C60 was observed by 1H NMR. A bimolecular rate constant for conversion of pH2@C60 to oH2@C60 using Tempo of kTempo approximately 4 x 10-5 M-1 s-1 was observed, which is approximately 3 orders of magnitudes slower than that for dissolved pH2 in organic solvents which is not protected by the C60 shell.

Inverted OPV devices based on sol-gel derived vanadium oxides (VOx ) as an interfacial layer are demonstrated. The VOx shows excellent characteristics as a hole-transporting and protecting layer. The constructed devices exhibit enhanced performance with the studied polymers and are highly durable under accelerated conditions for long time periods.