Alkylamines (n-propylamine and n-butylamine) Can be employed at room t
emperature as solvents for the preparation of alkali-metal-intercalate
d C-60 In this work, the preparation of Rb3C60 was studied in detail.
The reaction produces a single phase as characterized by X-ray diffrac
tion structural analysis. The product shows a superconducting transiti
on at T-c similar to 28 K after thermal elimination of the amine. A st
epwise mechanism of intercalation is proposed in which a fullerene-ami
ne adduct forms first, followed by charge transfer between the adduct
and Rb metal, followed by thermal decomposition of the adduct to yield
Rb3C60.