Versatility of chlorination-promoted skeletal transformation pathways in C76 fullerene.

We present the synthesis and crystal structure of a new chlorinated non-IPR isomer of C76 fullerene, 18387C76Cl30. The new chloride is formed from IPR-D2-C76via a sequence of chlorination-promoted Stone-Wales rearrangements concurrently with the previously known non-IPR compound 18917C76Cl24. A considerable difference between the two simultaneously forming non-IPR compounds suggests that higher fullerenes can exhibit a much higher versatility of skeletal transformations than the presently known compounds. Our theoretical analysis identifies yet further favorable Stone-Wales pathways in C76 and predicts several stable non-IPR and non-classical (i.e. heptagon-containing) C76 chlorides that may await experimental isolation.