SELECTIVITY IN FLUORINATION OF FULLERENES

A brief survey of the experimental facts related to the recently developed method of the selective preparation of fluorofullerenes is presented. The method is based on the solid-state reactions between fullerene and transition metal fluorides accompanied by simultaneous distillation of the volatile products. Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses of the process led us to the conclusion on the importance of consideration of the elementary act, that is detachment of fluorine atoms from the metal fluoride surface and consecutive F attachment to the C60 molecules. A criterion for the selection of the fluorinating agent for the synthesis of specific fluorofullerenes is proposed on the basis of the approach, analogous to the Bell-Evans-Polanyi's (BEP) model. This approach involves a near-linear correlation between activation energy and enthalpy for the series of elementary reactions for fluorofullerene homologues.