Nanostructured Diamine-Fullerene Derivatives: Computational Density Functional Theory Study and Experimental Evidence for their Formation via Gas-Phase Functionalization

Nanostructure derivatives of fullerene C-60 are used in emerging applications of composite matrices, including protective and decorative coating, superadsorbent material, thin films, and lightweight high-strength fiber-reinforced materials, etc. In this study, quantum chemical calculations and experimental studies were performed to analyze the derivatives of diamine-fullerene prepared by the gas-phase solvent-free functionalization technique. In particular, the aliphatic 1,8-diamino-octane and the aromatic 1,5-diamino-naphthalene, which are diamines volatile in vacuum, were studied. We addressed two alternative mechanisms of the amination reaction via polyaddition and cross-linking of C-60 with diamines, using the pure GGA BLYP, PW91, and PBE functionals; further validation calculations were performed using the semiempirical dispersion GGA B97-D functional which contains parameters that have been specially adjusted by a more realistic view on dispersion contributions. In addition, we looked for experimental evidence for the covalent functionalization by using laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, thermogravimetric analysis, and atomic force microscopy.