Crystal Structure of C60 and C70 Compounds

Fullerene intercalated compounds are the most intensively examined molecular materials to exhibit superconducting, ferromagnetic, optical non-linear and other properties. the fullerene C₆₀ or C₇₀ serve usually as electron acceptors in these materials. Although the electron acceptor properties of the fullerene are similar to those of the weak organic acceptors, the fullerene forms various C₆₀-based materials, namely clathrates, charge-transfer complexes and weak, molecular complexes. the search for cation species for fullerene-based materials is one of the routes towards progress in the design of materials with interesting physical properties.

Physical properties of the fullerene-derived molecular compounds are determined mainly by their crystal structure packing. Relatively large cavities in the fullerene solid can easily accommodate small units like solvent molecules or electron-donor organic compounds. An intercalation with these species is usually accompanied either by a lowering in crystal symmetry or by a change in the stacking arrangement of the C₆₀ spheres. These factors influence the interactions between fullerene (host) and an organic molecule (guest). Charge transfer between the electron donor molecule and the fullerene is usually weak and is hindered by unfavourable steric factors; it does not correlate with the ionization potential of the donor.

In this paper we present characteristic structures of one-, two-, and three-component fullerene compounds or else the structures of fullerene clathrates, neutral (van der Waals) complexes and ionic charge-transfer complexes. One can conclude that the stability and properties of the fullerene-based derivatives are defined by the steric compatibility between the three-dimensional donor and the spherical or elongated fullerene.