Chemistry of endohedral metallofullerene ions

The anion of La@C82 was electrochemically prepared and isolated. Anionic La@C82(−) is very stable in water, even after exposure to air at room temperature. The high stability of La@C82(−) is essentially due to its closed-shell electronic structure. As evidenced by the ESR analysis, La@C82(−) is diamagnetic. These experimental findings are confirmed by density functional calculations. The cage structure of La@C82 was determined for the first time and shown to have C2v symmetry based on the 13C NMR measurements of the compound in its anionic form.