Journey to the Holy Grail of a coordination saturated buckyball

Abstract

Exohedral metallofullerenes are increasingly gaining attention from both academia and industry due to their unique structural and electronic properties. C₆₀ provides an incredible opportunity to bind up to 30 metals on the surface to realize an icosidodecahedral C₆₀@M₃₀ supramolecular complex, the Holy Grail of a coordination saturated buckyball. Recently, the Li and Zhan groups reported a rhombicuboctahedral C₆₀@Cu₂₄ core–shell structure, a giant leap on their journey toward the Holy Grail.