Yasujiro Murata

By applying high-pressure H2 to a new fullerene derivative, C63NO2SPh2Py (1), having a 13-membered-ring orifice, 100% incorporation of a H2 molecule into the fullerene cage has been achieved for the first time. This result substantiates the theoretical calculations indicating that the energy barrier required for H2 insertion through an orifice in 1 is considerably lower than that for the previously reported derivative with the largest orifice among open-cage fullerenes synthesized thus far. Upon

A thermal liquid-phase reaction of fullerene C(60) with 3-(2-pyridyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine afforded aza-open-cage fullerene derivative 5 having an eight-membered-ring orifice on the fullerene cage. Compound 5 was found to undergo oxidative ring-enlargement reactions with singlet oxygen under photo-irradiation to give azadioxo-open-cage fullerene derivatives 9 and 10, which have a 12-membered-ring orifice, in addition to a small amount of azadioxa-open-cage fullerene derivative 11, which h

The solid-state reaction using a high-speed vibration milling (HSVM) technique has been applied to the [4 + 2] cycloaddition of fullerene C(60) with condensed aromatics such as anthracenes, tetracene, pentacene, and naphtho[2,3-a]pyrene. From the reaction with anthracene, [4 + 2] cycloadduct 1 was obtained in better yield than the reaction in solution. Despite such heterogeneous solid-state reaction conditions, an equilibrium state appears to be attained between the reactants (C(60) and anthrace

Endohedral fullerenes encapsulating a helium atom, i.e., He@C(60) and He@C(70), at occupation levels of 30% were prepared by rational chemical synthesis. The existence of weak interactions between the inner helium and the outer fullerene cages was demonstrated by experimental and computational investigations.

Radical reaction of [60]fullerene with phosphonate esters mediated by manganese(III) acetate in chlorobenzene afforded singly-bonded fullerene dimers, of which the individual meso and racemic isomers could be unexpectedly separated out for the first time.

4,7-Bis-[3-(dimesitylboryl)thien-2-yl]benzothiadiazole (1) and monoborylated derivative 2 were synthesized and their chromic behavior was investigated. Photophysical measurements, single-crystal XRD analysis, and theoretical calculations revealed that an intramolecular B-N coordination bond formed reversibly. The equilibrium of this reversible bond formation depends on the solid-state structure, solvent, temperature, and mechanical forces, and leads to significant changes in the electronic struc