Abstract
This review article describes synthetic chemistry and materials science of metal-fullerene complexes. The contents include six topics: 1) Development of synthetic methodology for metal-fullerene complexes where group 6-10 metal atoms are directly attached to organofullerenes. 2) Organometallic chemistry of cationic chiral metal-fullerene carbene complexes and their application to asymmetric synthetic organic chemistry. 3) Creation of liquid crystalline metal-fullerene complexes and their multi redox properties. 4) Synthesis and electrochemistry of polymetallic [60]fullerene and [70]fullerene complexes and the electronic interactions among the metal atoms through the fullerene p-electron conjugated systems. 5) Ultrafast and multi-step photo-induced charge separation systems using donor/acceptor-type metal-fullerene complexes. 6) Photocurrent generating self-assembled monolayers of rigid and compact pentapod metal-fullerene complexes and change of photocurrent direction by the change of component and molecular orientation. The knowledge of the synthesis, supramolecular ordered structure formations, and photoelectrochemical functions of the metal-fullerene complexes is applicable to development of intelligent photoelectric conversion systems.
