Synthesis and properties of open fullerenes encapsulating ammonia and methane

Bloodworth, Sally, Gräsvik, John, Alom, Shamim, Kouril,, Karel, Elliott, Stuart J., Wells, Neil J., Horsewill, Anthony J., Mamone, Salvatore, Jimenez-Ruiz, Monica, Rols, Stéphane, Nagel, Urmas, Room, Toomas, Levitt, Malcolm H. and Whitby, Richard J. (2018) Synthesis and properties of open fullerenes encapsulating ammonia and methane. ChemPhysChem, 19 (3). pp. 266-276. ISSN 1439-7641

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Abstract

We describe the synthesis and characterisation of open fullerene (1) and its reduced form (2) in which CH₄ and NH₃ are encapsulated, respectively. The ¹H NMR resonance of endohedral NH₃ is broadened by scalar coupling to the quadrupolar ¹⁴N nucleus, which relaxes rapidly. This broadening is absent for small satellite peaks, which are attributed to natural abundance ¹⁵N. The influence of the scalar relaxation mechanism on the linewidth of the ¹H ammonia resonance is probed by variable temperature NMR. A rotational correlation time of τc= 1.5 ps. is determined for endohedral NH₃, and of τc=57±5 ps. for the open fullerene, indicating free rotation of the encapsulated molecule. IR spectroscopy of NH3@2 at 5 K identifies three vibrations of NH₃ (ν₁, ν₃ and ν₄) redshifted in comparison with free NH₃, and temperature dependence of the IR peak intensity indicates the presence of a large number of excited translational/ rotational states. Variable temperature ¹H NMR spectra indicate that endohedral CH4 is also able to rotate freely at 223 K, on the NMR timescale. Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectra of CH₄@1 show both rotational and translational modes of CH₄. Energy of the first excited rotational state (J=1) of CH₄@1 is significantly lower than that of free CH₄.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/909912
Keywords: endofullerenes; inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy; infra-red spectroscopy; NMR spectroscopy; SpinDynamica
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Science > School of Physics and Astronomy
Identification Number: 10.1002/cphc.201701212
Depositing User: Horsewill, Anthony
Date Deposited: 27 Feb 2018 09:39
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 19:30
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/50033

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