Synthetic Strategies towards Fullerene-Rich Dendrimer Assemblies

Abstract: The sphere-shaped fullerene has attracted considerable interest not least due to the peculiar electronic properties of this carbon allotrope and the fascinating materials emanating from fullerene-derived structures. The rapid development and tremendous advances in organic chemistry allow nowadays the modification of C₆₀ to a great extent by pure chemical means. It is therefore not surprising that the fullerene moiety has also been part of dendrimers. At the initial stage, fullerenes have been examined at the center of the dendritic structure mainly aimed at possible shielding effects as exerted by the dendritic environment and light-harvesting effects due to multiple chromophores located at the periphery of the dendrimer. In recent years, also many research efforts have been devoted towards fullerene-rich nanohybrids containing multiple C₆₀ units in the branches and/or as surface functional groups. In this review, synthetic efforts towards the construction of dendritic fullerene-rich nanostructures have been compiled and will be summarized herein.