Stabilization of a Chlorinated (#4348)C66:C2v Cage by Encapsulating Monometal Species: Coordination between Metal and Double Hexagon-Condensed Pentalenes.

Carbon cages in endohedral and exohedral fullerene derivatives are usually different. A recent report suggested that chlorofullerene C66Cl10:Cs and endohedral metallofullerene (EMF) Sc2@C66 shared the same cage (#4348)C66:C2v, while it was denied by the definitive characterization of Sc2@C66, which actually possesses the (#4059)C66:C2v isomer. Here, we show that a (#4348)C66:C2v cage with a double hexagon-condensed pentalene (DHCP) moiety, which was captured by exohedral chlorination, is also capable of being stabilized by encapsulating tri- or divalent monometal (M) species. On the basis of density functional theory calculations combined with statistical mechanics analyses, (#4348)C66:C2v-based mono-EMFs M@C2v(4348)-C66 (M = Tb, La, Y, and Yb) were demonstrated to be the most stable and predominant isomers at the fullerene formation temperature region, while another chlorinated cage (#4169)C66:Cs, featured with triple sequentially fused pentagon (TSFP) moiety, is less favorable to be obtained in the form of EMFs, although these two cages can be interconverted by a simple Stone-Wales transformation. The superiority of M@C2v(4348)-C66 over M@Cs(4169)-C66 comes from the stronger interaction of M-DHCP over that of M-TSFP in both ionic and covalent bonding aspects. In addition, size-selective complexation of host [n]cycloparaphenylene ([n]CPP) and Tb@C2v(4348)-C66 was simulated, showing that [10]CPP exhibits the best affinity toward Tb@C66, which provides a new opportunity for isolation and characterization of C66-based mono-EMFs.