Production, Separation, Isolation, and Spectroscopic Study of Dysprosium Endohedral Metallofullerenes

The first successful production and chromatographic isolation of dysprosium endohedral metallofullerenes are reported. A series of 18 endohedral fullerenes have been separated and isolated having mainly two dysprosium metals engaged in a range of fullerene cages from C 80 up to C 94 . All these newly synthesized metallofullerenes are characterized by LD-TOF mass spectrometry and UV−vis−NIR absorption spectroscopy. Their possible molecular symmetry, HOMO−LUMO band gap, and electronic structure are discussed in terms of their absorption spectra and HPLC elution time. Their separation and isolation procedure by multistage high-performance liquid chromatography is discussed in detail.