Pure Appl. Chem., 2003, Vol. 75, No. 4, pp. 427-434
doi:10.1351/pac200375040427
Bucky ferrocene. Hybrid of ferrocene and fullerene*
E. Nakamura
Department of Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
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.
*Plenary lecture presented at the XXth International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC), Corfu, Greece, 7-12 July 2002. Other presentations are published in this issue, pp. 421-494.