The first exhaustive purification and characterization of the much-studied "fullerenols", prepared by reaction of C-60 in toluene with an oxygenated, aqueous NaOH solution using tetrabutylammonium hydroxide as a phase transfer catalyst, has been performed. The resulting fullerenol is not simply polyhydroxylated C-60 but rather is a structurally and electronically complex C-60) radical anion with a molecular formula of Na-n(+)[C60Ox(OH)(y)](n-) (where n = 2-3, x = 7-9, and y = 12-15) for three different, but identical, preparations. Surprisingly, Na+-fullerenol is paramagnetic, exhibiting mu(B) values in aqueous solution of 1.9-2.1 B.M. at 0.5 T and 300 K and R, proton relaxivities of 0.55-0.77 mM(-1)s(-l) at 20 MHz and 40 degreesC, values both slightly higher than those expected for a pure S = 1/2 spin system. ESR studies (ESE-FS and 2D nutation) of frozen aqueous solutions at 1.5 and 5.0 K establish that Na+-fullerenol is mainly S = 1/2 with a minor, but significant, component of S = 1. Thus, this is the first report to characterize these widely studied, water-soluble fullerenols as stable radical anions. The stability of the S = 1/2 Na+-fullerenol radical is likely due to a highly derivatized C60 surface that protects a cyclopentadienyl radical center on the fullerene.