Chemistry of Fullerenes-the High Reactivity and New Developments.

The chemistry of fullerenes has expanded very rapidly in recent years. Since C60 possesses considerably high electron affinity and low ionization potential, this molecule shows a high reactivity to organic reagents to give a variety of adducts. This review summarizes six types of reactions of C60, i.e., cycloadditions, ionic additions, radical additions, halogenations, hydrogenations, and transition-metal-complex formations. The cycloadditions of C60 have been studied very extensively to produce numbers of fullerenes with various substituents. Therefore, these reactions have been classified into [1+2]-, [2+2]-, [3+2]-, [4+2] cycloadditions and the ene reaction. In addition to the reactions of C60, some reactions of C70 have been described.