Theoretical investigation of C56 fullerene isomers and related compounds

All the 924 classical isomers of fullerene C(56) have been investigated by PM3, and some most stable isomers are refined with HCTH/3-21G and B3LYP6-31G(d) methods. D(2):003 with the least number of adjacent pentagons is predicted to be the most stable isomer at B3LYP/6-31G(d) level, while C(s):022 and C(2):049 possess nearly degenerate energies with relative energies of 0.03 and 3.90 kcal/mol, respectively. However, as to dianionic C(56)(2-) fullerene, C(2v):011 is predicted to be the most stable isomer. Investigations also show that the encapsulation of Ca atom in C(56) fullerene is exothermic and the metallofullerenes Ca@C(56) can be described as Ca(2+)@C(56)(2-). The computed relative stabilities show that the D(2):003 behaves more thermodynamically stable than other isomers in a wide temperature interval, and C(2v):011 should also be an important component. The electronic isomerization of C(56) (C(2v):011) and C(50) (D(5h):002) indicates that this phenomenon might be rather general in fullerenes and causes different properties, thus bringing about new possible applications of fullerenes. The static second-order hyperpolarizabilities of the three most stable isomers are slightly larger than that of C(60).