Abstract
The electronic structures of twenty-seven isomers of a macrocyclic fulleropyrrolidine are investigated with semi-empirical extended Huckel (EH) molecular orbital method. The geometry of each isomer is determined by the molecular mechanics and dynamics methods based on UFF (universal force field) empirical force field. The calculated geometries, such as the carbon-carbon distances of the fullerene moiety, are in good agreement with those of related fullerene derivatives. The EH calculation shows that the formation of macrocyclic pyrrolidine ring on fullerene moiety results in the reduction of the HOMO-LUMO energy gap. From the graphical analysis of the DOS (density of states), PDOS (projected DOS), and MOOP (molecular orbital overlap population) curves, we can find that this reduction is due to splitting of the HOMO of fullerene moiety, which results from the symmetry-breaking and the distortion of the buckminsterfullerene framework from its ideal icosahedral structure.