Studies of C60-metal reactions in the laser-ablation plasma of C60/M2O3 (M=La, Y, Eu, Gd).

Reactions of excimer laser (XeCl, 308 nm) vaporized and excited fullerene C60 with La, Y, Eu, and Gd were carried out in mixtures of C60/La2O3, C60/Y2O3, C60/Eu2O3, and C60/Gd2O3. The reaction products M[ATOTHER]@xa[/ATOTHER]C60, M[ATOTHER]@xa[/ATOTHER]C60-2n and M[ATOTHER]@xa[/ATOTHER]C60+2m (M=La, Y, Eu, and Gd) were identified by a reflectron type time-of-flight mass spectrometer (RTOFMS). The products were subjected to reactions with H2O, O2, and N2O in a pick-up source. The metallofullerenes were found to be nonreactive toward H2O, N2O, and O2. This gives support to the endohedral nature of the metallofullerenes. © 1995 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]