Photophysics of C60 and C60- in faujasite zeolites

While the intercalation Of C-60 and the formation of C-60(-) in the supercages of NaX and NaY are confirmed by using Xe-129 NMR and ESR, the photophysical properties Of C-60 and C-60(-) are characterized by monitoring transient reflectance spectra and kinetics, fluorescence kinetics, and diffuse reflectance spectra. C-60(-) is considerably more abundant in NaY than in NaX. This difference is explained in terms of polarity difference between two zeolites. Both C-60 and C-60(-) have remarkably elongated excited-state lifetimes due to their collision-free environment in zeolitic nanocavities although C-60(-) has much shorter lifetimes than C-60. C-60(-), in particular, shows intense absorption and emission due to its reduced symmetry in zeolites.