Open-Cage Fullerene as a Selective Molecular Trap for LiF/[BeF]

Rui Gao; Zhen Liu; Zeyu Liu; Tongling Liang; Jie Su; Liangbing Gan

doi:10.1002/anie.202300151

Open-Cage Fullerene as a Selective Molecular Trap for LiF/[BeF]

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Mar 13;62(12):e202300151. doi: 10.1002/anie.202300151. Epub 2023 Feb 14.

Authors

Rui Gao¹, Zhen Liu¹, Zeyu Liu¹, Tongling Liang², Jie Su¹, Liangbing Gan¹

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China.
² Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.

PMID: 36718977
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202300151

Abstract

The insertion of ionic compounds into open-cage fullerenes is a challenging task due to the electropositive nature of the cavity. The present work reports the preparation of an open-cage C₆₀ derivative with a hydroxy group pointing towards the centre of the cavity, which can coordinate to a metal cation, thus acting as a bait/hook to trap the metal cation such as the lithium cation in neutral LiF and the beryllium cation in the cationic [BeF]⁺ species. Other metal salts could not be inserted under similar conditions. The structure of MF in the cage was unambiguously determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Owing to its tendency to undergo polycoordination, Li⁺ monomer salts have not been isolated before, despite extensive research on Li bonds. The present results provide a unique example of a Li bond.

Keywords: Beryllium; Fullerenes; Host-Guest Systems; Lithium Bond; Molecular Containers.

Abstract

Grants and funding