Fullerenes encaging metal clusters--clusterfullerenes.

Clusterfullerenes represent a novel branch of endohedral fullerenes, which are characterized by a robust fullerene cage with metal clusters encaged in its hollow. Since the discovery of nitride clusterfullerenes (NCFs) in 1999, the family of clusterfullerenes has been significantly expanded within the past decade, with new members including carbide clusterfullerenes (CCFs), hydrocarbide clusterfullerenes (HCCFs), oxide clusterfullerenes (OCFs), sulfide clusterfullerenes (SCFs), and carbonitride clusterfullerenes (CNCFs). We first present the classification of clusterfullerenes and list all the clusterfullerenes reported to date. For each type of clusterfullerenes, we review in detail their synthesis, separation, intriguing molecular structures and properties. For NCFs, as the first and most important clusterfullerenes, we point out the significance of their discovery and focus on their new synthesis and separation methods as well as the new advances. Finally the potential applications of clusterfullerenes are addressed. We conclude that clusterfullerenes appear to be the fastest growing family of endohedral fullerenes up to now, and emphasize the importance of exploring new structures and chemical functionalizations of clusterfullerenes. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011