Fullerene C70 as a Nanoflask that Reveals the Chemical Reactivity of Atomic Nitrogen

Yuta Morinaka; Rui Zhang; Satoru Sato; Hidefumi Nikawa; Tatsuhisa Kato; Ko Furukawa; Michio Yamada; Yutaka Maeda; Michihisa Murata; Atsushi Wakamiya; Shigeru Nagase; Takeshi Akasaka; Yasujiro Murata

doi:10.1002/anie.201701158

Fullerene C₇₀ as a Nanoflask that Reveals the Chemical Reactivity of Atomic Nitrogen

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 Jun 1;56(23):6488-6491. doi: 10.1002/anie.201701158. Epub 2017 May 2.

Authors

Yuta Morinaka¹, Rui Zhang¹, Satoru Sato², Hidefumi Nikawa², Tatsuhisa Kato^{3

4}, Ko Furukawa⁵, Michio Yamada⁶, Yutaka Maeda⁶, Michihisa Murata¹, Atsushi Wakamiya¹, Shigeru Nagase⁷, Takeshi Akasaka^{2

6}, Yasujiro Murata¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan.
² Life Science Center of Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Human and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.
⁴ Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.
⁵ Centre for Instrumental Analysis, Niigata University, Nishi-ku, Niigata, 950-2181, Japan.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Tokyo Gakugei University, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8501, Japan.
⁷ Fukui Institute for Fundamental Chemistry, Kyoto University, 34-4 Takano-Nishihiraki-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8103, Japan.

PMID: 28464385
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201701158

Abstract

To investigate the intrinsic reactivity of atomic nitrogen, which had previously been accomplished only by examining its decay in the gas phase using special equipment, a nitrogen atom was inserted into a series of molecule-encapsulating C₆₀ and C₇₀ fullerenes. Among the studied endofullerenes, H₂ @C₇₀ was able to encapsulate an additional nitrogen atom within the fullerene cage under radiofrequency plasma conditions. The product was analyzed by ESR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry in solution, which revealed that the nitrogen atom with a quartet ground state does not react but weakly interact with the H₂ molecule, thus demonstrating the utility of such fullerenes as "nanoflasks".

Keywords: ESR spectroscopy; endohedral fullerenes; hydrogen; mass spectrometry; nitrogen.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't