Effect of substituents and protonation on the mechanism of 1,3-dipolar retro-cycloaddition reaction of pyrrolidino[60]- and [70]fullerenes

Using matrix-assisted ionization method for mass spectral identification of fullerene-dye conjugates

Traditional soft ionization methods are not always suitable for mass spectral analysis of complex compounds. Factors such as laser radiation and heating resulting in fragmentations of sample molecules in the case of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization and difficulties in preparing suitable sample solutions in the case of electrospray ionization make it impossible to use these methods in some cases. Matrix-assisted ionization was used to analyze products of chemical synthesis involving pyropheophorbide and fullerene. Mass spectra were acquired using a simple effective modification of the Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer electrospray interface. Reliable identification of pyropheophorbide-fullerene dyad ions and its derivatives was carried out. An experimental comparison of a matrix-assisted ionization and an electrospray ionization technique demonstrated the significant advantage in sensitivity to the ions under study (approximately 20 times higher) of the matrix-assisted ionization method in this particular study.

Competitive retro-cycloaddition reactions in heterocyclic fullerene bis-adducts ions: selective removal of the heterocyclic moieties

RATIONALE

We have investigated the fragmentation reactions of ions from bis-adducts containing isoxazolino-, pyrrolidino- and methanofullerene moieties.

METHODS

The fragmentation reactions induced by collision-induced dissociation (CID) of ions generated under electrospray ionization (ESI) in positive and negative modes of detection using an ion-trap spectrometer have been investigated.

RESULTS

The competitive retro-cycloaddition process between isoxazoline and pyrrolidine rings fused to [60]fullerene reveals that it is strongly dependent on the experimental negative or positive ESI experimental conditions. Thus, whereas retro-cycloaddition reaction is favored in the pyrrolidine ring under negative conditions, the protonation occurring on the nitrogen atom of the pyrrolidine ring under positive conditions precludes its retro-cycloaddition and, therefore, only the isoxazoline ring undergoes the retro-cycloaddition process. The obtained experimental results are different from those reported when the reaction is carried out under thermal conditions. Competitive retro-cycloaddition reactions of isoxazolino- and methanofullerenes show that the heterocyclic ring undergoes cycloelimination, leaving the methanofullerene moiety unchanged. In this case, the same selectivity is observed under thermal and gas-phase conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

The observed selectivity in the heterocyclic removal in these [60]fullerene derivatives is reversed from negative conditions (radical anions) to positive conditions (protonated molecules). Moreover, the retro-cycloaddition reaction behaves differently under spectrometric and thermal conditions.

Stereodivergent synthesis of chiral fullerenes by [3 + 2] cycloadditions to C₆₀

A wide range of new dipoles and catalysts have been used in 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of N-metalated azomethine ylides onto C60 yielding a full stereodivergent synthesis of pyrrolidino[60]fullerenes with complete diastereoselectivities and very high enantioselectivities. The use of less-explored chiral α-iminoamides as starting 1,3-dipoles leads to an interesting double asymmetric induction resulting in a matching/mismatching effect depending upon the absolute configuration of the stereocenter in the starting α-iminoamide. An enantioselective process was also found in the retrocycloaddition reaction as revealed by mass spectrometry analysis on quasi-enantiomeric pyrrolidino[60]fullerenes. Theoretical DFT calculations are in very good agreement with the experimental data. On the basis of this agreement, a plausible reaction mechanism is proposed.

Laser-induced azomethine ylide formation and its covalent entrapment by fulleropyrrolidine derivatives during MALDI analysis

Two novel monofunctionalized fulleropyrrolidine derivatives (Prato adducts) were prepared and characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI). MALDI experiments conducted in the positive-ion mode on pure and mixed samples of both monofunctionalized fullerene derivatives revealed the efficient formation of bisadducts (in the case of the pure samples) and mixed bisadducts (in the case of a mixed sample). Bisadducts were not observed in the ESI experiments and thus not present in the sample. A mechanism for the MALDI formation of these bisadduct ions is proposed in which an azomethine ylide fragment is formed in situ from the monofunctionalized fulleropyrrolidine species upon laser irradiation. This fragment, which can survive as an intact moiety in the gas phase in the special environment provided by the MALDI experiment, is then able to attach to a fulleropyrrolidine monoadduct which acts as a dipolarophile, thus leading to the formation of a bisadduct fullerene derivative. The unprecedented re-attachment of the azomethine ylide implies that the establishment of the ligand attainment of Prato adducts based on MALDI analysis alone can lead to wrong assignments.