Oxidative cage opening in the C 70 fullerene facilitated by preceding trifluoromethylation.

Two novel derivatives of the C 70 fullerene with 9- and 10-membered cage openings were obtained by means of oxidation and decarbonylation of C 70 (CF 3 ) 8 . The major product, C 70 (O)(CF 3 ) 8 O 2 , features a cleaved C-C bond transformed into two carbonyl functions plus an ether bridge. The second product, C 69 O(CF 3 ) 8 O, has one of the carbonyls replaced with another ether bridge. We provide a DFT analysis of the possible formation pathways to give the oxidized compounds under the action of pyridine N -oxide.