Complexes of C60 fullerene with simple donor molecules: Theoretical study

The complex formation between fullerene C60 and simple donor molecules such as dimethyl ether, dimethylamine, dimethylsulfide, furan, pyrrole, and thiophene has been studied applying the hybrid MP2/6-31G(d'):PM3 ONIOM approach for geometry optimization. Local implementation of Moller-Plesset perturbation theory in combination with 6-31G(d) and 6-311G(d,p) basis sets was used for binding energies estimation of fullerene complexes. Two factors were found to contribute most to the complex stability: the polarizability and molecular volume of donor molecule. As follows from positive stabilization energies at the Hartree-Fock level, the stabilization of fullerene complexes is entirely due to dispersion interactions in accordance with available experimental data. The calculations show that for donors of similar molecular volume the binding energy of molecular complex increases with polarizability of donor molecules. Similarly, for such complexes the partial charges on molecules increase with decreasing of ionization potentials of donor molecules. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.