Yusuke Nakanishi, Haruka Omachi, Sanae Matsuura, Yasumitsu Miyata, Ryo Kitaura, Yasutomo Segawa, Kenichiro Itami and Hisanori Shinohara

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, Early View DOI: 10.1002/anie.201311268

A new strategy for the non-chromatographic extraction of metallofullerenes from solutions of arc-processed raw soot is based on the size-selective complexation with cycloparaphenylene (CPP). [11]CPP has a high affinity for Mx@C82 (x=1, 2); for example, Gd@C82 can be selectively extracted from a fullerene mixture by the addition of [11]CPP. This approach should open new opportunities in metallofullerene chemistry, including for the bulk extraction of metallofullerenes.