SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TRANSITION-METAL FULLERIDES

Complexes of group VIII metals in low oxidation numbers react in solut ion with fullerene to yield structurally ill-defined compounds with re producible compositions and properties. A variety of characterisation methods (analysis, XRD, FT-IR, TPD) indicate that the transition metal s are located in the interstices of the fullerene lattice being distor ted bit the volume of the complexes with partly coordinated residual l igands. The fullerene molecules complete the coordination shells of th ese catalytically active materials.