Basic hydrolysis of fullerene-based esters: a tiny step away from nucleophilic addition to fullerene

Abstract

Direct nucleophilic addition of –OH groups on the C₆₀ 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 T_h- FHMA and fullerenol, have been observed as an important side reaction. The hydroxylation takes place at considerably milder conditions as those usually used in the synthesis of C₆₀ 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 C₆₀ skeleton of molecules with distinct absorption spectra takes place.