Facile preparation of fullerenyl boronic esters

The fullerendiol C60(OH)2(OOt-Bu)4 1 reacts with various arylboronic acids ArB(OH)2 to form fullerene-containing boronic esters C60(O2BAr)(OOt-Bu)4 in up to 95% yield depending on the structure of aryl group. Bis(pinacolato)diboron (B(OCMe2)2)2 also reacts with 1 to form C60(O2BB(OCMe2)2)(OOt-Bu)4. The bisboronic ester C60(O)(O2BAr)2(OOt-Bu)2 was also obtained starting from a tetrahydroxyl fullerene derivative C60(O)(OH)4(OOt-Bu)2. The fullerenyl boronic esters are moderately stable in air. Single crystal X-ray structure of C60(O2BPh)(OOt-Bu)4 was obtained.