Basic Hydrolysis of Fullerene-based Esters: A Tiny Step Away from Nucleophilic Addition to Fullerene

摘要

Direct nucleophilic addition of OH groups on the C-60 skeleton in the basic hydrolysis of ethyl ester of T-h-symmetric fullerenehexamalonic acid (T-h-FHMA), leading to the formation of a hybrid with features of Th-FHMA and fullerenol, has been observed as an important side reaction. The hydroxylation takes place at considerably milder conditions as those usually used in the synthesis of C-60 fullerenols. UV/Vis and IR spectroscopy were successfully used as a fast monitoring tool which might be of help also in other investigations where additions on C-60 skeleton of molecules with distinct absorption spectra take place.