Solubility of C60 in alcohols and alkanes Original Research Article

The solubility of C60 was determined at room temperature in seven normal alcohols, four isoalcohols, four diols, one triol, and seven alkanes. It was discovered that C60 forms supersaturated solutions with alcohols and alkanes. The enigmatically low solubility of C60 in octane, observed in previous studies, was confirmed. Solubilities are less than about 35 ng/g in solvents with cohesion parameters larger than about 30 MPa12. When the data are examined with the Hildebrand-Scatchard equation corrected for the Flory-Huggins size effect term, the datapoints of the alkanes and the normal alcohols fall on a common second order polynomial curve. The solubilities in the diols are about three orders of magnitude above that curve; the solubilities of the iso-alcohols lie slightly below the curve. From the data we have deduced a free energy of melting of C60 to the undercooled liquid at room temperature of 108 kJ/mol.