Double-Holed Fullerenes

Fully-fused
caged nanocarbons with multiple orifices are segmental
structures of porous carbon frameworks long envisioned as synthetic
targets of interest. Conventional bottom-up approaches, however, could
not overcome the high strain energies required for graphitic precursors
to be rounded up. Herein, we report a top-down approach to produce
fully-fused carbon nanoelbows as double-holed fullerenes derived from
strained C60. The concise one-pot synthesis featuring unique
selectivity enabled the isolation of six compounds, while orifice
sizes were modifiable from 8- to 12-membered rings and vice versa.
The crystallographic analysis confirmed their elbow-shaped structures
with different curvatures. Within the crystal, cylindrical nanoporous
arrangement were found with the inclusion of solvent guests, reminiscent
of hypothetical fullerene sponges.