title: A Copper-based Supramolecular Nanocapsule that Enables Straightforward Purification of Sc3N-based Endohedral Metallofullerene Soots.
abstract: A self-assembled CuII-based nanocapsule enables efficient and straightforward isolation of Sc3N@C80from arc-processed raw soot. The newly designed CuII-based supramolecular nanocapsule 5⋅(OTf)8was used to effectively entrap fullerenes and endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs) with different affinities depending on their size and shape. Moreover, we took advantage of the sharply different entrapment abilities of the 5⋅(OTf)8cage in the solid state versus in solution to encapsulate all the species with the exception of Sc3N@C80(both Ihand D5hisomers), which remains pure in solution. HPLC quantification determined that up to 85 % of the total Sc3N@C80content in the initial mixture was recovered in very high purity (>99.5 %). The complete release of the encapsulated species with an orthogonal solvent-washing strategy regenerates 5⋅(OTf)8ready to be re-used. This approach opens new opportunities for EMFs purification.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Química Computatcional i Catàlisi (IQCC) and Departament de Química, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17003, Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fuertes-Espinosa
authors.affiliation: Institut de Química Computatcional i Catàlisi (IQCC) and Departament de Química, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17003, Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: García-Simón
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Edison
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.affiliation: Institut de Química Computatcional i Catàlisi (IQCC) and Departament de Química, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17003, Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Costas
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Avenue, El Paso, Texas, 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Echegoyen
authors.affiliation: Institut de Química Computatcional i Catàlisi (IQCC) and Departament de Química, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17003, Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavi
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2850-4409
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ribas
keywords: copper; fullerenes; scandium nitride; soot purification; supramolecular nanocapsules