Azafullerene C59 in Donor-Acceptor Dyads: Synthetic Approaches and Properties

Abstract

Energy conversion schemes have attracted considerable attention in recent years. A large amount of research effort has focused on fullerenes, particularly C60 and its derivatives, as suitable electron acceptors, owing to their outstanding properties. In this context, C59 N-based donor-acceptor systems have lately attracted attention, owing to their exceptional energy-and electron-transfer properties. As a result, chemical derivatization of C59 N plays an important role in the realization of the aforementioned systems. The current Minireview aims to familiarize researchers with the main aspects of azafullerene synthesis, chemistry, and photophysical properties, while it mainly focuses on the synthetic methodologies employed for as well as on energy conversion schemes of azafullerene-based donor-acceptor systems.

Keywords: azafullerene; charge transfer; donor-acceptor systems; functionalization; solar cells.