title: Does a cyclopropane ring enhance the electronic communication in dumbbell-type C₆₀ dimers?
abstract: Two C60 dumbbell molecules have been synthesized containing either cyclopropane or pyrrolidine rings connecting two fullerenes to a central fluorene core. A combination of spectroscopic techniques reveals that the cyclopropane dumbbell possesses better electronic communication between the fullerenes and the fluorene. This observation is underpinned by DFT transport calculations, which show that the cyclopropane dumbbell gives a higher calculated single-molecule conductance, a result of an energetically lower-lying LUMO level that extends deeper into the backbone. This strengthens the idea that cyclopropane behaves as a quasi-double bond.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Química, Universidad Complutense , E 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: La Rosa
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gillemot
authors.forename: Edmund
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leary
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Evangeli
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Filippone
authors.forename: Gabino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rubio-Bollinger
authors.forename: Nicolás
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Agraït
authors.forename: Colin J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Nazario
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Martín