ESR signal in azafullerene (C59N)(2) induced by thermal homolysis

Thermal homolysis of biazafullerenyl, (C59N)(2), has been studied by CW ESR in the temperature range 290-829 K. The room-temperature ESR spectrum cons ists of a single sharp narrow Line whose intensity is consistent with the p resence of a low concentration of defect spins (1 spin per 600 C59N units). Around 500 K, three sharp lines emerge on top of the impurity signal and a re assigned to the N-14(I = 1) hyperfine spectrum with a hyperfine coupling constant, a(iso) = 3.60(1) G and a g-factor of 2.0004(2). The intensity of the observed N-14 hyperfine spectrum directly measures the fraction of the C59N radicals formed as the temperature increases, growing from similar to 50 ppm at 516 K to similar to 300 ppm at 740 K. The temperature evolution of this fraction allows us to extract an estimate of the binding energy as 7(1) kcal/mol. The high temperature treatment of the sample eventually resu lts in the partial decomposition and formation of C-60.