Hydrides and dimers of C(58) fullerenes: structures and stabilities.
A density functional theory (DFT) study of fullerene hydrides C(58)H(2x) (2x = 2,4,...,34) is presented. We consider two relevant isomers, the most stable classical isomer C(58)-C(3v) and the energetically close non-classical isomer C(58)-C(s), which contains a heptagonal ring. Iterative pairwise addition of hydrogen atoms to only the energetically favoured products of the previous iteration yields a set of low energy structures for each composition. From these, low energy pathways are extracted. Analysis of the C-H binding energies along the reaction pathways is performed to identify particularly stable hydride compositions. These are 2x = 6,18,28,34 for C(58)-C(s) and 2x = 10,26,30 for C(58)-C(3v). We therefore suggest that these hydrides are preferably formed in hydrogenation experiments and that it should be possible to distinguish between the two C(58) isomers. We further investigate the dimer formation based on low energy C(58)H(2) addition patterns. All dimers show binding energies of more than 1 eV whereby dispersion interactions play a significant role. Both C(58) isomers can also undergo further aggregation. This leads us to the conclusion that in the absence of other reactant molecules C(58) will form intercage bonds and cannot be isolated in molecular form, which is in accordance with experimental results.
Bihlmeier
Angela
A
Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), and Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany.
Klopper
Wim
W