Solvent effect on C60 tris-acid solubility: Light scattering, spectroscopic, electrochemical and computational studies

Abstract Fulleropyrrolidine tris-acid (CPTA) has a wide scope of applications, therefore, we study its solubility in the series of organic solvents and aqueous solutions in a full pH range. Since the solubility, primarily depends on the physicochemical properties of the solute and the solvent but also varies due to the change of the external factors like temperature or pressure we utilize complex experimental techniques (light scattering, UV–Vis spectroscopy, electrochemistry) along with density functional theory (DFT) based calculations. Our results provide a deep understanding of the CPTA solubility based on the CPTA–solvent, CPTA–CPTA and solvent–solvent interactions. Our studies show a distinct solubility of CPTA in DMF, DMSO and THF. In water (pH > 11) CPTA exists in stable colloidal solutions.