Theoretical study of the addition patterns of C60 fluorination: C60Fn (n = 1-60)

A systematic study is presented of addition patterns occurring upon fluorination of C60. We use the program SACHA, which increments the number of fluorine addends, tests all available addition sites within a given cutoff radius, and selects the most energetically stable structure for further addition on the basis of full AM1 optimizations for every isomer. The lowest energy structures are optimized at HF/3-21G level of theory. A number of distinct addition routes are predicted, based on octahedral, 'S', and 'T' addition patterns, leading both to experimentally observed C60F(n) isomers and to isomers not previously described in the literature. Furthermore the main addition routes were analyzed for C60F2n isomers, using ab initio global and local aromaticity calculations. For this, magnetizability and NICS calculations have been carried out at HF/3-21G level of theory. We show the possibility of using NICS to predict the next preferential addition site, matching the above-described addition routes.