ABSTRACT
Cyano-and hydrocyano C60 fullerenes invented by Wudl et al.1,2 have attracted great attention as components of proton exchange membrane fuel cells3,4 due to their high proton conductivity. The inventors have elaborated a multistep route of producing polyhydrocyanofullerenes from C60 to C60H(CN)5 that can evidently be expanded over higher members of the family, and present the series
C60 → C60H(CN)1 → C60(CN)2 → C60H(CN)3 → C60(CN)4 → … → C60H(CN)2n-1 → C60(CN)2n (6.1)
This production route has been supported by other chemists (see, for example, Konarev and coworkers5,6) demonstrating the best way to produce hydrocyano C60H(CN)2n-1 and cyano C60(CN)2n polyderivatives and their ions. Different molecular and anionic representatives of the two series covering members with n = 1, 2, and 3 have been obtained.
