ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW METALLOFULLERENE ND-AT-C-82

Nd@C-82 has been isolated with a purity of similar to 99.9% by an effi cient solvent extraction procedure, followed by HPLC separation. UV-VI S-NIR absorption spectra of the metallofullerenes were measured in a w avelength range from 300 to 2100 nm. The spectral features are remarka bly similar to those of La@C-82 and Ce@C-82, a finding which suggests a similar magnitude of charge transfer from the metal atoms to the car bon cage for these species M@C-82 (M = rare earth element). A study us ing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) suggests that the electroni c structure of Nd@C-82 can be approximately represented by Nd3+@C-82(3 -).