Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.135, No.9, 3351-3354, 2013
Enhanced Dipole Moments in Trimetallic Nitride Template Endohedral Metallofullerenes with the Pentalene Motif
Although not found to date in empty-cage fullerenes, the fused pentagon motifs (pentalenes) are allowed in endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs). We have found that members of the trimetallic nitride template (TNT) EMF Y3N@C-2n (n = 39-44) family that contain pentalene motifs exhibit significant dipole moments. This finding is predicted to be significant for other EMFs with a metal atom orientated toward the pentalene motif. Chromatographic retention data and computational results for Y3N@C-2-C-78, Y3N@C-2-C-82, and Y3N@C-5-C-84 are examples that pentalene groups lead to a significant induced dipole moment (similar to 1D). A special case is the Y3N@C-2-C-78 that contains two pentalenes in a relatively small cage. The C-13 NMR spectrum for Y3N@C-2-C-78 exhibits strongly deshielded signals for the fullerene cage (155-170 ppm) supporting the presence of the pentalene motif. In addition, a lengthening of the covalent M-N bond in the internal M3N cluster is found for all reported TNT EMFs that contain one or two pentalene motifs.