Owing to the three-fold degeneracy of the LUMO in C60, its hexa-anion is not subjected to Jahn-Teller distortions. In contrast to the accepted presumptions, however, computations at the MNDO, AMI, PM3, SAM1, HF/STO-3G, HF/3-21G, and HF/4-31G levels show that the completely relaxed, non-icosahedral cage of C6− 60is lower in energy. The computed energy gain varies between 60 and 150 kJ/mol and thus, it is consistently significant (the most sophisticated approach, HF/4-31G, yields 93 kJ/mol). The longest C-C bond in the relaxed structures is at most computed 0.05 Å longer compared to the 5/6 bond in the icosahedral C6− 60The symmetry of C6− 60is relaxed to D2 A C2v, isomer is discussed, too.

We examine the temperature-induced changes of the optical spectra of thin C60 films deposited on silicon and gold. We have used thermoreflectance to study the spectral response of the lowest electronic states. We have found strong effects related to the phase transition and freezing of the rotations of C60 molecules upon cooling.

Experiments designed to clarify the role of molecular oxygen in the photolysis of fullerene are described. The formation of oxygen-fullerene adducts, both in fullerene solutions in various solvents and in micro-crystallites formed by evaporating these solutions, and their photolysis was studied under various experimental conditions. The results confirm that the role of oxygen in the photolysis process in these systems is ambivalent and highly dependent on the conditions under which the irradiation of the fullerenes occurs (wavelength and intensity of the photolyzing radiation, character of the solvent molecules, presence of additional molecules in the solvent-fullerene-oxygen system, etc.).

Fullerene Science and Technology, both the field and the journal, have observed considerable progress during the last few years. The field has continued to mature as witnessed by the many new and interesting results published in thousands of journal articles (1-3) and in a multitude of books and conference proceedings. The recognition of fullerene sciences as a self-containing field of research has been culminating in the awarding of the 1996 Chemistry Nobel Prize to Professors Robert S. Curl, Harold W. Kroto, and Richard E. Smailey.

By using a chip-injection-type J×B arc reactor, carbon material chips of, for example, charcoal, activated carbon, sumi (Chinese ink stick), synthetic rubber and carbon black are well arc-sublimated in He gas and fullerenes are successfully produced from these materials. From the viewpoints of effective use of plant resources, recycling of used carbon materials and environmental low-emission technology, the utilization of these materials to produce fullerenes has potential as an environment-friendly technology.

Six new organic cations (Triphenylmethane dye, Hemicyanine dyes, calix[4]arene derivative) buckminsterfulleride salts were prepared by metathetical reaction. the products were characterized by UV-NIR, ESI-MS, ESR and FT-IR. the ESR spectra show a typical C60 anion radical signal and dependence on countercations and temperature, the linewidth has an abrupt increasing at about the THF melting point and the ESR signal diminishes gradually when the temperature below 170K. the possible explanation is that the THF crystallization results in exclusion of solute from the lattice and leads to C60 anion aggregation, which promotes line broadening and diamagnetic dimer of (C60)2 2− forming.

The mechanism for apoptosis induction during the implantation of renal transplants or ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury might be related to the release of free radicals. Hexa(sulfobutyl)fullerene, a strong free radical scavenger, is an isomeric mixture of polyfunctional C60 derivative carrying six sulfobutyl groups. To elucidate the role of hexa(sulfobutyl)fullerene in the I/R induced renal damage of the rat kidneys, we used TUNEL, DNA laddering, quantitative PCR and western blot to evaluate the expression of apoptosis. We found that less apoptotic expression and up-regulation in bcl-xL, an anti-death gene, was found in the damaged kidneys with hexa(sulfobutyl)fullerene (100 μ g) pretreatment. It is suggested that the mechanism for hexa(sulfobutyl)fullerene attenuating L/R induced apoptosis in the rat kidney may be ascribed to the overexpression of bcl-xL.

Optical resolution of chirally functionalized [60]fullerene has been achieved through formation of diastereomeric α-methoxyphenylacetic acid (MPA) esters. The diastereomeric ester products were easily separated either by open column silica gel chromatography or by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with BuckyPrep® column.

A time-dependent x-ray scattering study is presented of the kinetics of the C60-based star polymer containing 6 urethane-connected polyether and the star model polymers containing 4, 3, and 2 urethane-connected polyether arms. By varying the temperature from 40°C to -40°C, the order-disorder phase transition (recrystallization) of the polymers has been observed. Two crystalline domains with the periodicities of 4.5±0.6 Å and 3.7±0.4 Å were detected. The domain sizes ranging from 70 Å to 250 Å, the transition temperatures from -15°C to 25°C and the maximum percentage of recrystallization from 13% to 34% increase as the number of polyether arms increases. The x-ray scattering peaks of the order phase grow up as I1 +I2(l - e−t/t0), where I1 and I2 are the initial intensity and the proportional intensity modulus, respectively. The relaxation time t0 of the order phase is varying as a power law with respect to the reduced temperature TR(=(T - TC)/TC): t0 = (35±10)·|TR|−1.42±0.07 seconds for the C60-based star polymer containing 6 urethane-connected polyether; t0 = (315 ± 64)·|TR|−1.68±0.08 seconds for the star model polymer containing 4 urethane-connected polyether arms.