The dipolar endofullerene HF@C60

Krachmalnicoff, Andrea; Bounds, Richard; Mamone, Salvatore; Alom, Shamim; Concistr�, Maria; Meier, Benno; Kou?il, Karel; Light, Mark E.; Johnson, Mark R.; Rols, St�phane; Horsewill, Anthony J.; Shugai, Anna; Nagel, Urmas; R��m, Toomas; Carravetta, Marina; Levitt, Malcolm H.; Whitby, Richard J.

Abstract

The cavity inside fullerenes provides a unique environment for the study of isolated atoms and molecules. We report encapsulation of hydrogen fluoride inside C60 using molecular surgery to give the endohedral fullerene HF@C60. The key synthetic step is the closure of the open fullerene cage while minimizing escape of HF. The encapsulated HF molecule moves freely inside the cage and exhibits quantization of its translational and rotational degrees of freedom, as revealed by inelastic neutron scattering and infrared spectroscopy. The rotational and vibrational constants of the encapsulated HF molecules were found to be redshifted relative to free HF. The NMR spectra display a large 1H-19F J coupling typical of an isolated species. The dipole moment of HF@C60 was estimated from the temperature-dependence of the dielectric constant at cryogenic temperatures and showed that the cage shields around 75% of the HF dipole.

Citation

Krachmalnicoff, A., Bounds, R., Mamone, S., Alom, S., Concistrè, M., Meier, B., Kouřil, K., Light, M. E., Johnson, M. R., Rols, S., Horsewill, A. J., Shugai, A., Nagel, U., Rõõm, T., Carravetta, M., Levitt, M. H., & Whitby, R. J. (2016). The dipolar endofullerene HF@C60. Nature Chemistry, 8(10), 953-957. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2563

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 25, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jul 11, 2016
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jul 14, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 14, 2016
• Journal: Nature Chemistry
• Print ISSN: 1755-4330
• Electronic ISSN: 1755-4349
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 953-957
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2563
• Keywords: General Chemistry; General Chemical Engineering
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/801490
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.2563
• Additional Information: Received: 15 November 2015; Accepted: 25 May 2016; First Online: 11 July 2016; : The authors declare no competing financial interests.
• Contract Date: Jul 14, 2016