Metal-Induced Tuning of Fullerene Reactivity: Application to Nucleophile Addition

Endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs) are a unique class of hybrid molecules formed by encapsulating metal atoms within carbon cages (fullerenes), giving rise to distinctive properties that differ from empty fullerenes. Extensive research has focused on optimizing the synthesis, extraction, isolation, and characterization of EMFs, along with investigating their physicochemical properties and potential applications in areas such as electronics, photovoltaics, biomedicine, and materials science. Here, the use of a laser vaporization source combined with ion mobility and mass spectrometry is demonstrated to characterize and isolate EMF structures, enabling further investigation of their gas-phase chemical properties. This approach is illustrated through a comparative study of the reactivity of empty carbon cages and calcium EMFs in the nucleophilic addition of pyridine.