ABSTRACT
V. Controlled Potential Electrolysis as a Synthetic Tool: The "Shuffle" and the RetroBingel Reaction
VI. Concluding Remarks References
I. INTRODUCTION
Fourteen years ago, when buckminsterfullerene, C60 was discovered [I], it was impossible to predict the impact that this discovery would have in so many research laboratories around the world. Researchers in fields ranging from organic chemistry to cryogenic physics have been attracted to the incredibly symmetric molecule for different reasons. We believe that one particular property of C60 has been of particular interest to all the different fields: the ability of C60 to easily accept electrons. This property was theoretically predicted [2] soon after its soccer-ball structure was proposed but before it was confirmed by x-ray crystallography [3]. At that time, because of the possible implications in the field of chemistry, an active search for a method to produce the compound in reasonable quantities began, and shortly after, success was achieved [4]. The race began for those interested in confirming the theoretical predictions, as well as for those with the incredible insight to sec the immense possibilities presented by an cle(.;trophilic molecule that not only could be easily derivatized in three dimensions but that, belonging to the family of carbon allotropes and being fully conjugated, offered the possibility of being a great conductor or perhaps even a superconductor [5].
