STABILITY OF METALLOFULLERENES FOLLOWING NEUTRON-CAPTURE REACTION ON THE METAL-ION

The stability of 16 kinds of metallofullerenes (9 elements) was invest igated against the recoil phenomena associated with the capture of neu trons by the metal atoms inside the carbon cages. The yields of the un affected species were obtained by use of the HPLC separation method an d radioactivity measurements. Recoil energy distributions of the metal atoms were calculated theoretically and the effective energy required for destruction of metallofullerenes from inside by recoiling atoms w as estimated to be about 10 to 15 eV for the metallofullerenes contain ing lanthanide atoms.