Investigation of encapsulation and solvatochromism of fullerenes in binarysolvent mixtures

Fullerenes, when dissolved in certain binary solvent mixtures are found to exhibit strong solvatochromism and an unusual chemical inertness. From UV-v is optical absorption measurements, dynamic light scattering (DLS) size mea surements and chemical tests on C-60/pyridine/water mixtures, we suggest th at the origin of these unusual effects is the formation of monodispersive, spherical, and chemically inert C-60 nanocapsules. Pyridine appears to act as a surfactant around fullerene molecules protecting them from chemical re agents. The hydrophobic surfactant interactions are thought to act in stabi lizing the structures into chemically inert uniformly sized particles.