Single crystal X-ray structure of tetrahedral C60F36: the most aromatic and distorted fullerene

Tetrahedral C60F36 is shown by its single-crystal X-ray structure to be the most aromatic (and distorted) fullerene derivative, having four planar hexagons with almost equal bond lengths, the average of which (1.373 Å) is the same as in C60F18; one exceptionally long FC–CF bond (1.665 Å) corresponds to the similarly long bond in C60F18 (a motif of T C60F36) and is likely to be the site of oxygen insertion in C60F36O.