Cover Angewandte Chemie on Donor-Acceptor Conjugates

The synthesis and characterization of a covalent alláfullerene C₆₀áLu₃N@I_háC₈₀ electron donor-acceptor conjugate has been realized by sequential 1,3ádipolar cycloaddition reactions of azomethine ylides on Lu₃N@I_háC₈₀ and C₆₀. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that two fullerenes behaving as both electron donor (Lu₃N@I_háC₈₀) and acceptor (C₆₀) are forming an electroactive dumbbell. DFT calculations reveal up to 16 diastereomeric pairs, that is, 8 with syn and 8 with anti orientation, with the antiáRSSS isomer being the most stable. Spectroelectrochemical absorption and femtosecond transient absorption experiments support the notion that a C₆₀^ñáLu₃N@I_háC₈₀^á+ chargeáseparated state is formed. Spin conversion from the chargeáseparated singlet state C₆₀^ñáLu₃N@I_háC₈₀^á+ into the corresponding triplet state is facilitated by the heavyáatom effect stemming from the Lu₃Nácluster, which, in turn, slows down the charge recombination by one order of magnitude.

The paper was published recently in Angewandte Chemie:

M. Izquierdo, B. Platzer, A.J. Stasyuk, O.A. Stasyuk, A.A. Voityuk, S. Cuesta, M. Sol , D.M. Guldi, and N. Martín
“All-Fullerene Electron Donor-Acceptor Conjugates”
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, [], ASAP-
[abstract]
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201901863

It is accompanied by the cover picture which has been published today:

Angewandte Chemie cover for Prof. Sol and co-workers