C60 Derivatives Having Self-Assembly Capabilities

This article describes functionalization of C-60 to obtain self-assembling fullerene derivatives having five organic addends as "feathers" on the top part or "legs" on the bottom part. Installation of five aromatic benzoate groups with long alkyl side chains to C-60 produced badminton shuttlecock-shaped pentaaryl[60] fullerenes, which stack in a head-to-tail manner to form columnar liquid crystals. On the other hand, introduction of five rigid biphenyl groups with anchoring carboxylic acids to C-60 afforded lunar lander-like pentapod pentaaryl[60] fullerenes, which are fixed onto indium tin oxide electrode surfaces to form self-assembled monolayers showing switchable photocurrent generation property.