The Supercritical Fluid Antisolvent Synthesis of C60(C2Hx) (x=4 or 6); The Crystal Structures of Two Materials Which Were Thought Unlikely to Exist

Abstract

The intercalation of ethane and ethene into the octahedral interstitial sites of the C60 lattice can be achieved by antisolvent precipitation, using supercritical C2H4 and C2H6. This method of crystallization (see picture), which has yielded unprecedented intercalation compounds with hydrocarbons once thought too large to form such species, should be applicable to other gases, solvents, and fullerenes.