Synthesis and evaluation of thermal, photophysical and magnetic properties of novel starlike fullerene–organosilane macromolecules

Thermal, photophysical and magnetic properties of some novel fullerenol–silane adducts are described. Excellent improvement of thermal stability and high char yield due to the presence of silicon is the key feature of these adducts. Highest luminescence quenching due to maximum π–π electronic interactions between phenyl ring and fullerene are observed in the aromatic-silane adducts and the quenching ability of the aromatic ring reduces with further delocalization of the π-electrons as in naphthyl silane. The alkyl vinyl silane, on the other hand, records better fluorescence intensity owing to increase population of the electron density (+I effect) and non-effective charge transfer complex formation between isolated vinylic double bond and fullerene. Emission peak positions of these adducts are comparable to fullerenol because of control derivatization of fullerene ring causing less perturbation of the symmetric π-electronic system. These adducts are paramagnetic in nature with peaks around 3515 G and higher g-values (2.005–2.009) compared to fullerenol (1.985). The fullerenol–silane adducts are synthesized using fullerenol as substrate and different chloro and alkoxy silanes as silylating agents adopting simple nucleophilic displacement and transesterification reactions. All the fullerenol–silane adducts are characterized spectroscopically.