Enhanced coalescence upon laser desorption of fullerene oxides

C₆₀O_x, x=1–3 were prepared by exposing C₆₀ solutions to ozone. After high performance liquid chromatography purification, these materials were studied by laser desorption time of flight mass spectroscopy. These mass spectra suggest that fullerene oxides undergo laser desorption induced coalescence more efficiently than pure C₆₀. A correlation between the fragmentation of the desorbed parent species and the observed coalescence products both in yield and distribution suggests that efficient gas phase coalescence involves at least one reactive species, such as C₅₈, produced by fragmentation of the desorbed fullerenes or fullerene derivatives.