Solubilization of fullerene into ionic liquids by the use of fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomers

Fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomers were solubilized into a variety of ionic liquids such as N-methylpyrazolium tetrafluoroborate, 3-methylpyrazolium tetrafluoroborate and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, and these fluorinated oligomers were able to reduce the surface tension of these ionic liquids. Interestingly, these fluorinated oligomers were able to solubilize fullerene into ionic liquids effectively. Fluoroalkyl end-capped fullerene co-oligomers, which were prepared by the oligomerizations of fluoroalkanoyl peroxides with radical polymerizable monomers such as acryloylmorpholine in the presence of fullerene, were more effective in solubilizing fullerene into ionic liquids compared to the corresponding fluoroalkyl end-capped homo-oligomers possessing no fullerene units. Fluoroalkyl end-capped fullerene co-oligomers/fullerene/ionic liquid complexes thus obtained were applied to the arrangements of fullerenes above the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) surface, and the higher fluorescent intensity of fullerene was obtained in the modified PMMA surface, although the reverse side of this modified film surface afforded an extremely weak fluorescent intensity. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.