Nanocarbon – Metal Complexes of Fullerenes and Nanotubes:Synthetic, Stereochemical and Catalytic Study

Organometallic fullerenes and carbon nanotubes are expected to be the catalysts of organic reactions and to find applications in medicine and molecular electronics as the components of such molecular devices as photovoltaic cells, solar batteries, light emitters etc. To this end, chemical functionalization is necessary by adding organic or organometallic groups. Strong electron accepting properties and high hydrofobicity are characteristic of both fullerenes and nanotubes. First we have synthesized (η2-C60)Pd(PPh3)2 and characterized it by X-ray crystallography. Then we focused on the fullerenes with metallocenyl substituents which may have different electronic effects. In our group, two main lines in synthesis have been derived: the direct synthesis of η2 palladium complexes with C60 and C70 as shown below 2 Cn + Pd2(dba)3⋅C6H6 + 2 (Ph2P-C5H4)2Ru → 2 η2-CnPd(Ph2P-C5H4)2Ru and introduction of metallocenyl groups in addends using Prato reaction with aldehydes derived from the Mn, Re, Co, Ru cyclopentadienyls. Organometallic groups are highly variable in electronic effects being donors (ruthenocenyl) or acceptors (cymantrenyl). We also used optically active phosphine ligands in the palladium fullerene complexes which may be perspective in asymmetric catalysis and studied the circular dichroism spectra