Methane as a Selectivity Booster in the Arc-Discharge Synthesis of Endohedral Fullerenes: Selective Synthesis of the Single-Molecule Magnet Dy2TiC@C80 and Its Congener Dy2TiC2@C80.
The use of methane as a reactive gas dramatically increases the selectivity of the arc-discharge synthesis of M-Ti-carbide clusterfullerenes (M=Y, Nd, Gd, Dy, Er, Lu). Optimization of the process parameters allows the synthesis of Dy2TiC@C80-I and its facile isolation in a single chromatographic step. A new type of cluster with an endohedral acetylide unit, M2TiC2@C80, is discovered along with the second isomer of M2TiC@C80. Dy2TiC@C80-(I,II) and Dy2TiC2@C80-I are shown to be single-molecule magnets (SMM), but the presence of the second carbon atom in the cluster Dy2TiC2@C80 leads to substantially poorer SMM properties.
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany).
Katrin
K
Junghans
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany).
Christin
C
Schlesier
Physik-Institut der Universität Zürich, 8057 Zürich (Switzerland).|Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI (Switzerland).
Aram
A
Kostanyan
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany).
Nataliya A
NA
Samoylova
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany).
Qingming
Q
Deng
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany).
Marco
M
Rosenkranz
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany).
Sandra
S
Schiemenz
Physik-Institut der Universität Zürich, 8057 Zürich (Switzerland).
Rasmus
R
Westerström
Physik-Institut der Universität Zürich, 8057 Zürich (Switzerland).
Thomas
T
Greber
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany).
Bernd
B
Büchner
Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany). a.popov@ifw-dresden.de.
Alexey A
AA
Popov
acetylides; carbides; endohedral fullerenes; lanthanides; single-molecule magnets