4764
J . Org. Chem. 1996, 61, 4764-4768
P r ep a r a tion a n d Ch a r a cter iza tion of Six
Bis(N-m eth ylp yr r olid in e)-C60 Isom er s: Ma gn etic
Desh ield in g in Isom er ic Bisa d d u cts of C60
Qing Lu, David I. Schuster,* and Stephen R. Wilson*
Department of Chemistry, New York University, Washington Square, New York, New York 10003
Received March 7, 1996X
A series of isomers of bis(N-methylpyrrolidine)-C60 2 (Prato bisadducts) was prepared by the 1,3-
dipolar cycloaddition of N-methylazomethine ylide to C60. Six isomers were separated and
characterized by ESI-MS, UV/vis, and 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The structures of these
bisadducts were assigned based on (1) comparison of their molecular symmetries with their 1H
and 13C NMR spectra, (2) comparison of their UV/vis spectra with those of corresponding Bingel-
Hirsch bisadducts, and (3) the order of deshielding of the methylene and N-methyl 1H NMR
resonances. Prato bisaddition is less chemoselective than Bingel-Hirsch bisaddition to C60.
In d r od u ction
The soccer ball-shaped molecule C60 appears to undergo
reactions associated with poorly-conjugated electron-
deficient alkenes.1 However, a unique feature of C60 is
that a large number of products may arise from polyad-
dition of even one reagent to C60 since it has 30 reactive
[6,6] double bonds. Well-designed polyadducts of C60 with
defined three-dimensional structures have potential for
biological applications, such as molecular recognition.2
For example, it has been reported that a water-soluble
C60 derivative inhibits HIV protease and reverse tran-
scriptase.3,4 In order to be able to design three-dimen-
sional structures based on C60, it is important to control
the chemoselectivity of the C60 polyaddition. The chem-
istry of C60 has been dominated, thus far, mainly with
investigation of its monoaddition reactions. The synthe-
sis of isomerically pure polyadducts of C60 has been
reported in only a few cases.5 For example, Hirsch et
al.5d isolated and characterized seven isomers of bis-
(ethoxycarbonyl)methylene-C60. In nucleophilic cyclo-
propanations of C60 (Scheme 1), attack at specific [6,6]
double bonds is significantly preferred. The most favor-
able positions are at the equatorial and trans-3 positions
relative to the addend already bound to the fullerene core
(Figure 1).
F igu r e 1. Positional relationships and Hirsch nomenclature
of the eight different double bonds in a C60 bisadduct relative
to the 6-6 bond carrying the first addend R.
Sch em e 1
The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides to
C60 affording fulleropyrrolidines was reported by Prato
and co-workers.6 This high yield reaction occurs exclu-
sively across [6,6] bonds. Since the addend is sym-
metrical in N-methylpyrrolidine-C60,6a there are again
eight possibilities for bisaddition. We selected this
reaction as another candidate for the investigation of the
chemoselectivity of bisaddition to C60. In this paper, we
report the preparation, isolation, and characterization of
six isomers of bis(N-methylpyrrolidine)-C60. One would
expect different proportions of isomeric bisadducts com-
pared with that in Hirsch’s reaction, since the two
reactions proceed by totally different mechanisms.
X Abstract published in Advance ACS Abstracts, May 15, 1996.
(1) For reviews, see: (a) Hirsch, A. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl.
1993, 32, 1138. (b) Taylor, R.; Walton, D. R. M. Nature 1993, 363, 685.
(c) Diederich, F.; Isaacs, L.; Philip, D. Chem. Soc. Rev. 1994, 243. (d)
Hirsch, A. The Chemistry of the Fullerenes; Thieme Medical Publish-
ers: New York, 1994.
(2) J ensen, A. W.; Wilson, S. R.; Schuster, D. I. Bioorg. Med. Chem.,
in press.
(3) Friedman, S. H.; DeCamp, D. L.; Sijbesma, R. P.; Srdanov, G.;
Wudl, F.; Kenyon, G. L. J . Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 6506.
(4) Sijbesma, R. P.; Srdanov, G.; Wudl, F.; Castoro, J . A.; Wilkins,
C.; Friedman, S. H.; DeCamp, D. L.; Kenyon, G. L. J . Am. Chem. Soc.
1993, 115, 6510.
(5) (a) Fagan, P. J .; Calabrese, J . C.; Malone, B. J . J . Am. Chem.
Soc. 1991, 113, 9408. (b) Hawkins, J .; Meyer, A.; Lewis, T.; Bunz, U.;
Nunlist, R.; Ball, G.; Ebbesen, T.; Katsumi, T., J . Am. Chem. Soc. 1992,
114, 7954. (c) Hawkins, J .; Meyer, A.; Nambu, M. J . J . Am. Chem.
Soc. 1993, 115, 9844. (d) Hirsch, A.; Lamparth, I.; Karfunkel, H. R.
Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1994, 33, 437. (e) Henderson, C. C.;
Assink, R. A.; Cahill, P. A. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1994, 33,
786. (f) Hirsch, A.; Lamparth, I.; Cro¨sser, T.; Karfunkel, H. R. J . Am.
Chem. Soc. 1994, 116, 9385. (g) Lamparth, I.; Maichle-Mo¨ssmer, C.;
Hirsch, A. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1995, 34, 1607. (h) Wilson, S.
R.; Lu, Q. Tetrahedron Lett. 1995, 36, 5707.
(6) (a) Maggini, M.; Scorrano, G.; Prato, M. J . Am. Chem. Soc. 1993,
115, 9798. (b) Maggini, M.; Scorrano, G.; Bianco, A.; Toniolo, C.;
Sijbesma, R. P.; Wudl, F.; Prato, M. J . Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun.
1994, 305. (c) Maggini, M.; Karlsson, A.; Pasimeni, L.; Scorrano, G.;
Prato, M.; Valli, L. Tetrahedron Lett. 1994, 35, 2985. (d) Prato, M.;
Maggini, M.; Scorrano, G.; Brusatin, G.; Innocenzi, P.; Guglielmi, M.;
Meneghetti, M.; Bozio, R. Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 1995, 359
(Science and Technology of Fullerene Materials), 351-6. (e) Prato, M.;
Maggini, M.; Scorrano, G. Proc.-Electrochem. Soc. 1994, 94 (24)
(Recent Advances in the Chemistry and Physics of Fullerenes and
Related Materials), 713-22. (f) Corvaja, C.; Maggini, M.; Prato, M.;
Scorrano, G.; Venzin, M. J . Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 8857.
S0022-3263(96)00466-5 CCC: $12.00 © 1996 American Chemical Society