Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.104, No.46, 10688-10694, 2000
Effects of lowering symmetry on the ESR spectra of radical anions of fullerene derivatives and the reduction potentials
Radical anions of dibenzyl adducts of C-60, 1,4-(C6H5CH2)(2)C-60(.-) and 1,2-(C6H5CH2)(2)C-60(.-) ave ESR spectra which have larger g values (2.0004 and 2.0001, respectively) and much smaller line widths (DeltaH(msl) = 2.5 and 3.3 G, respectively, at 213 K) than the g Value (1.9984) and the DeltaH(msl) value (30.9 G at 213 K) of C-60 - All even smaller DeltaH(msl) value (0.17 G) and a larger g value (2.0011) are observed for the tetrabenzyl C-60 adduct radical anion, 1,4,10,24-(C6H5CH2)(4)C-60(.-) and this is ascribed to a large splitting of the degenerate t(1u) orbitals caused by introduction pf four benzyl groups to C-60. In this case, a hyperfine structure, due to two nonequivalent protons of only one benzyl group (aH(1) = 0.31 G, aH(2) = 0.11 G), is observed and this is consistent with the predicted localized spin density at the C2 position next to the C1 carbon to which a benzyl group is attached. The radical anions of the mono- and bisadducts formed in the Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction of C-60 with 9,10-dimethylanthracene show ESR signals at different g values (2.0003 for the monoadduct and 2.0009 for the bisadduct). The relationship between lower symmetry and the ESR spectra of radical anions of various C-60 derivatives is discussed in terms of the g values and the line widths. The energy gap (delta) between the singly occupied orbital and the two other orbitals which had a tl, symmetry prior to introduction of addends to C-60 is derived from differences in the g values of various C-60(.-) derivatives from the free spin value (2.0023). A linear correlation is shown to exist between log DeltaH(msl) and -delta. The delta values are also obtained from Arrhenius plots of In DeltaH(msl) vs T-1 and they agree well with the values derived from the g values and the reduction potentials.