EPR study of radical anions of C60 and C70

Utilizing highly polar solvents for the stabilization of Fullerene anions, electrochemical and chemical reduction resulted in narrow single line EPR spectra for the monoanions of C₆₀ and C₇₀ being characterized byg=2.0001(1), ΔB=0.075 mT,g=2.0019(1), ΔB=0.016 mT, respectively. Apparently, the orbital degeneracy of the C₆₀ monoanion is lifted under these conditions to such an extent, that the abnormal large spin lattice relaxation rate believed to be responsible for the approximately 5 mT line width of the monoanion is sufficiently reduced.¹³C enrichment resulted in noticeable line broadening, allowing an estimate of the average¹³C hyperfine coupling constanta _ave=0.1 mT.