Exohedral functionalization of fullerenes and supramolecular chemistry.

We have investigated the exohedral functionalization of [60]fullerene, especially bisaddition; we have revealed the regioselectivity of bisaddition and the properties of obtained bisadducts. The bisaddition without any restriction generally shows low regioselectivity. The electronic and photophysical properties of bisadducts mainly depend on the addition patterns and are almost independent of the nature of addends. We have also attained the regioselective synthesis of bisadducts by controlling the distance and orientation between two reactive species with suitable covalent templates and their application into some functional materials. The synthesis of fullerene-containing interlocked molecules, such as catenanes and rotaxanes, was accomplished by using a noncovalent interaction, mainly a donor-acceptor interaction, in addition to the covalent functionalization. The bistable rotaxanes, which can serve as a molecular shuttle or switch, were also successfully prepared.