Regioselective Recognition of a [60]Fullerene-Bisadduct by Cyclodextrin

The three different regioisomers of bis-N-methylfulleropyrrolidines have been separated by controlling the relative amounts of γ-cyclodextrin and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) contained in solutions of these compounds. When a small amount of γ-CDx was used in a mechanochemical high-speed vibration milling apparatus, the trans-1 and trans-2•γ-CDx complexes were separated from the trans-3•γ-CDx complex. In contrast, trans-3 was extracted in a relatively high ratio with an excess of γ-CDx. The addition of DMSO to aqueous solutions of the fullerene derivative•γ-CDx complexes allowed for the three regioisomers to be obtained in high purity (>95%). The basis for the observed regioselective separation was a competition between the relative stabilities and solubilities of the complexes in the water and water-DMSO solvents. The stabilities of the complexes in water were assessed by the number of hydrogen bonding interactions between the two γ-CDx units using molecular dynamics simulations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported example of the isolation of the different regioisomers of fullerene derivatives using host–guest complexes.