σ-Donor and π-Acceptor Stacking Interactions in atrans-2-Linked C60–Cobalt(II) Tetraphenylporphyrin Diad

Recent advances in supramolecular fullerene chemistry

Fullerene chemistry has come a long way since 1990, when the first bulk production of C60 was reported. In the past decade, progress in supramolecular chemistry has opened some remarkable and previously unexpected opportunities regarding the selective (multiple) functionalization of fullerenes and their (self)assembly into larger structures and frameworks. The purpose of this review article is to provide a comprehensive overview of these recent developments. We describe how macrocycles and cages that bind strongly to C60 can be used to block undesired addition patterns and thus allow the selective preparation of single-isomer addition products. We also discuss how the emergence of highly shape-persistent macrocycles has opened opportunities for the study of photoactive fullerene dyads and triads as well as the preparation of mechanically interlocked compounds. The preparation of two- or three-dimensional fullerene materials is another research area that has seen remarkable progress over the past few years. Due to the rapidly decreasing price of C60 and C70, we believe that these achievements will translate into all fields where fullerenes have traditionally (third-generation solar cells) and more recently been applied (catalysis, spintronics).

A three-shell supramolecular complex enables the symmetry-mismatched chemo- and regioselective bis-functionalization of C60

Molecular Russian dolls (matryoshkas) have proven useful for testing the limits of preparative supramolecular chemistry but applications of these architectures to problems in other fields are elusive. Here we report a three-shell, matryoshka-like complex-in which C₆₀ sits inside a cycloparaphenylene nanohoop, which in turn is encapsulated inside a self-assembled nanocapsule-that can be used to address a long-standing challenge in fullerene chemistry, namely the selective formation of a particular fullerene bis-adduct. Spectroscopic evidence indicates that the ternary complex is sufficiently stable in solution for the two outer shells to affect the addition chemistry of the fullerene guest. When the complex is subjected to Bingel cyclopropanation conditions, the exclusive formation of a single trans-3 fullerene bis-adduct was observed in a reaction that typically yields more than a dozen products. The selectivity facilitated by this matryoshka-like approach appears to be a general phenomenon and could be useful for applications where regioisomerically pure C₆₀ bis-adducts have been shown to have superior properties compared with isomer mixtures.