Single crystal structures and theoretical calculations of uranium endohedral metallofullerenes (U@ , 2 = 74, 82) show cage isomer dependent oxidation states for U.

Charge transfer is a general phenomenon observed for all endohedral mono-metallofullerenes. Since the detection of the first endohedral metallofullerene (EMF), La@C, in 1991, it has always been observed that the oxidation state of a given encapsulated metal is always the same, regardless of the cage size. No crystallographic data exist for any early actinide endohedrals and little is known about the oxidation states for the few compounds that have been reported. Here we report the X-ray structures of three uranium metallofullerenes, U@-C, U@(5)-C and U@(9)-C, and provide theoretical evidence for cage isomer dependent charge transfer states for U. Results from DFT calculations show that U@-C and U@(5)-C have tetravalent electronic configurations corresponding to U@-C and U@(5)-C. Surprisingly, the isomeric U@(9)-C has a trivalent electronic configuration corresponding to U@(9)-C. These are the first X-ray crystallographic structures of uranium EMFs and this is first observation of metal oxidation state dependence on carbon cage isomerism for mono-EMFs.