CHARACTERIZATION AND STABILITY OF HIGHLY FLUORINATED FULLERENES

Several procedures were used to fluorinate neat samples of C60 and mixtures of C60/C70. Both positive and negative ion mass Spectrometry showed C60FX and C70FY product mixtures, with X less-than-or-equal-to 48 and Y less-than-or-equal-to 56, representing the highest degree of fullerene substitution recorded by mass spectrometry to date. Small but significant differences are observed in the mass spectra obtained using field desorption, thermal deposition, and laser desorption ionization techniques, indicating facile loss of fluorine from the highly substituted fullerenes. Slow decomposition in C6F6 solution was also observed. Infrared and UV-vis absorption spectra of C60FX are also reported.