The Hunter Falls Prey: Photoinduced Oxidation of C 60 in Inclusion Complex with Perfluorocycloparaphenylene.

Perfluorocycloparaphenylenes (PFCPPs) are cycloparaphenylenes (CPPs) in which all hydrogen atoms have been replaced by fluorine atoms. Like CPPs, PFCPPs are highly strained, hoop-shaped π-conjugated molecules. In this article, we report a computational modeling of photoinduced electron transfer processes in the inclusion complex of PF[10]CPP with C 60 fullerene. Its unique feature is the favorable electron transfer from C 60 to the host molecule. The photooxidation of C 60 is predicted to occur on a sub-nanosecond timescale. The PF[10]CPP⊃C 60 dyad is the first nanoring-fullerene complex in which C 60 acts as an electron donor in the photoinduced charge separation.