Issue 8, 2017

Single crystal structures and theoretical calculations of uranium endohedral metallofullerenes (U@C2n, 2n = 74, 82) show cage isomer dependent oxidation states for U

Abstract

Charge transfer is a general phenomenon observed for all endohedral mono-metallofullerenes. Since the detection of the first endohedral metallofullerene (EMF), La@C82, in 1991, it has always been observed that the oxidation state of a given encapsulated metal is always the same, regardless of the cage size. No crystallographic data exist for any early actinide endohedrals and little is known about the oxidation states for the few compounds that have been reported. Here we report the X-ray structures of three uranium metallofullerenes, U@D3h-C74, U@C2(5)-C82 and U@C2v(9)-C82, and provide theoretical evidence for cage isomer dependent charge transfer states for U. Results from DFT calculations show that U@D3h-C74 and U@C2(5)-C82 have tetravalent electronic configurations corresponding to U4+@D3h-C744− and U4+@C2(5)-C824−. Surprisingly, the isomeric U@C2v(9)-C82 has a trivalent electronic configuration corresponding to U3+@C2v(9)-C823−. These are the first X-ray crystallographic structures of uranium EMFs and this is first observation of metal oxidation state dependence on carbon cage isomerism for mono-EMFs.

Graphical abstract: Single crystal structures and theoretical calculations of uranium endohedral metallofullerenes (U@C2n, 2n = 74, 82) show cage isomer dependent oxidation states for U

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
17 Apr 2017
Accepted
22 May 2017
First published
22 May 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 5282-5290

Single crystal structures and theoretical calculations of uranium endohedral metallofullerenes (U@C2n, 2n = 74, 82) show cage isomer dependent oxidation states for U

W. Cai, R. Morales-Martínez, X. Zhang, D. Najera, E. L. Romero, A. Metta-Magaña, A. Rodríguez-Fortea, S. Fortier, N. Chen, J. M. Poblet and L. Echegoyen, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 5282 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC01711A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements