Bucky ferrocene. Hybrid of ferrocene and fullerene

Abstract

The idea of “bucky ferrocene” intrigues chemists owing to its aesthetic beauty and to its polarized, extended conjugated system, but the idea has remained hypothetical. The synthesis of close analogs of Fe(C60Me5)Cp and Fe(C70Me3)Cp was achieved in two steps from [60] and [70]fullerenes, relying on an oxidative C–H bond activation starting with an iron(I) complex and the corresponding cyclopentadienyl precursors, respectively. The molecules can be regarded as members of a new organometallic conjugated system connected to a graphitic system. Numerous synthetic transformations and self-organization procedures that are known for the parent ferrocenes and fullerenes are expected to be employable toward productive use of the ferrocene/fullerene hybrid molecules in chemistry and materials sciences.