Th@C1(11)-C86: an actinide encapsulated in an unexpected C86 fullerene cage.

A novel actinide endohedral fullerene with an unexpected chiral cage, Th@C1(11)-C86, was synthesized and characterized. DFT calculations suggest that this low symmetry cage was favoured as a consequence of the strong interaction between Th and the cage, which makes the predictions by the ionic model less reliable for these endohedral mono-metallofullerenes.