DETECTION OF METHOXYLATED ANIONS OF FULLERENES BY ELECTROSPRAY-IONIZATION MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) has been applied to the study of there actions of fullerenes in solution. The C60- and other anionic species are readily examined directly in 1:1 toluene/methanol by negative ion ESI-MS. Addition of a NaOMe/MeOH solution to C60 in toluene leads to formation of C60- and C60(OMe)n- (n = 1, 3, 5, 7) as major anions as well as a product derived from coupling and oxidation with toluene, C60O2(CH2C6H5)-. The expected isotopic shifts of the peaks in deuteriomethanol or deuteriotoluene confirmed the proposed formulas. Similar experiments on C70 gave the same types of anions. A crown ether tagged fulleroid was also used for the same reaction, but the ESI-MS study could be done in both positive and negative ion modes. Our results showed that fulleroids do have chemical properties similar to those of fullerenes themselves.