Tris(9',10]ethanoanthracene [11',12': 1,9;11'',12'': 16,17;11''',12''': 30,31]) [5,6]fullerene C 60 , the orthogonal (e,e,e)-tris-adduct of C 60 and 9,10-dimethylanthracene, was obtained from [4 þ 2]-cycloaddition (Diels -Alder reaction) at room temperature. The thermally unstable orange red (e,e,e)-tris-adduct was purified by chromatography and was isolated in the form of red monoclinic crystals. Its C 3 -symmetric addition pattern was established spectroscopically. Its structure could be further investigated by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The (e,e,e)-tris-adduct of C 60 and 9,10-dimethylanthracene has earlier been suggested as intermediate and reversibly formed critical component in template directed addition reactions of C 60 . This previously elusive compound has now been isolated and structurally characterized.Introduction. -The discovery of the fullerenes [1] and of an efficient method to produce substantial amounts of these spherical carbon molecules [2] has opened a new era of chemistry [1] [3 -5] and has paved the way to synthetic, spectroscopic, and structural studies [6]. One major goal of these studies concerned the exploration of methods to achieve specific exohedral modifications of the symmetric spherical C- . In other cases, the thermal reversibility was exploited to achieve reversible attachment of fullerenes to solid support [19].As the highly symmetrical C-sphere provided by the [5,6]fullerene 1 represents a unique basis for building up three dimensional molecular structures by multiple exohedral functionalization, particular attention was paid to the problem of regioselectivity in functionalization reactions [7] [8]. The underlying need for regiocontrol has provoked extensive studies on i) the patterns of the inherent reactivity of [5,6]fullerene