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Biomineralization is a typical methodology developed by nature to produce calcium-based materials. A method mimicking this process has nowadays become popular for the preparation of artificial organic–inorganic hybrids. Here, Cu3(PO4)2crystals with a flowerlike morphology have been prepared using water-soluble derivatives of fullerene C60as templates. In a typical system, flowerlike crystals of Cu3(PO4)2(denoted FLCs-Cu) were obtained by simply dropping an aqueous solution of CuSO4into phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing a highly water-soluble multiadduct of C60(fullerenol). The best condition for the preparation of FLCs-Cu appeared at 0.20 mg·mL–1fullerenol and 0.10 mol·L–1PBS. During the formation of FLCs-Cu, fullerenol acts as a template and its content in FLCs-Cu is trace (less than 5% by atom) as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy mapping and thermogravimetric analysis. This feature makes fullerenol reusable, and the FLCs-Cu can be prepared repeatedly using the same fullerenol aqueous solution at least 10 times without a noticeable change in the morphology. The N2adsorption/desorption isotherm showed that the doping of fullerenol increased the specific surface area of the Cu3(PO4)2crystal. When fullerenol was replaced by C60monoadducts that are cofunctionalized with a pyrrolidine cation and oligo(poly(ethylene oxide)) chains, FLCs-Cu can form as well, indicating that the strategy of using water-soluble C60derivative as a template to get FLCs-Cu is universal. As a typical example of practical applications, the photocatalytic activity of the FLCs-Cu was investigated toward the degradation of dyes including rhodamine B and rhodamine 6G. In both cases, efficient photodegradation has been confirmed.

Amphiphilic derivatives of fullerene C60are attractive from viewpoints of supramolecular chemistry and biomedicine. The establishment of relationships among the molecular structure, aggregation behavior and properties such as scavenging radicals of the amphiphilic C60derivatives is the key to push these carbon nanomaterials to real applications. In this work, six monosubstituted C60derivatives were synthesized by a one-step quaternization of their neutral precursors, which bear Percec monodendrons terminated with oligo(poly(ethylene oxide)) (o-PEO) chain(s). The main difference among the C60derivatives lies in the number and substituted position of the o-PEO chain(s) within the Percec monodendron. Derivative with a 4-substitution of the o-PEO chain still showed limited solubility in water. Other derivatives possessing two or three o-PEO chains exhibited much improved solubilities and rich aggregation behavior in water. It was found that the formation of aggregates is regulated both by the number and the substituted pattern of the o-PEO chains. Typical morphologies include nanosheets, nanowires, vesicles, nanotubes, and nanorods. Although the structures of the C60derivatives are different from those of traditional surfactants, their aggregation behavior can be also well explained by applying the theory of critical packing parameter. Interestingly, the capabilities of the C60derivatives to scavenge the hydroxyl radicals (OH·–) followed the same order of their solubility in water, where the compound bearing three o-PEO chains with a 2,3,4-substitution got the champion quenching efficiency of ∼97.79% at a concentration of 0.15 mg·mL–1(∼0.11 mmol·L–1).