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Materials

Caged Buckyball

October 22, 2007 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 85, Issue 43

Buckyballs are known to enclose small molecules, but now C60 itself has been completely enveloped, in this case by an inorganic fullerene-like molecular shell (J. Am. Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja075926m). Manfred Scheer at the University of Regensburg, in Germany, and colleagues created the supramolecular cover (core structure shown) from pentaphosphaferrocene and copper(I) chloride building blocks (C = gray, Cu = blue, Cl = green, Fe = orange, P = purple; H atoms omitted). The outer diameter of the spherical shell is 2.3 nm. The researchers noticed a relatively strong electronic interaction between the C60 and the encapsulating molecule, and on the basis of the complex's black color, they expect interesting conductivity properties. Scheer says the discovery opens up novel prospects for self-assembled processes involving encapsulation. The team plans to extend the concept to C70, substituted fullerenes, and other molecules.

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