The Effect of O2 Intercalation on the Rotational Dynamics and the Ordering Transition of C60

We have used {sup 13}C magic-angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to characterize the structure and rotational dynamics of C{sub 60} containing oxygen molecules located in the interstitial sites of the fcc lattice. Under normal conditions, a narrow peak at 143.7 ppm is observed for C{sub 60}. When exposed to oxygen at moderate pressures, several additional resonances appear in the {sup 13}C MAS NMR spectrum. These secondary resonances are shifted downfield from the main peak at 143.7 ppm and are due to the Fermi-contact interaction of the paramagnetic oxygen molecules with the {sup 13}C nuclear spins. The presence of oxygen depresses the orientational ordering transition by ca. 20 K as observed by DSC. The spin-lattice relaxation time (T{sub 1}) of each secondary peak shows a minimum near the ordering transition, indicating that this transition is not dependent on the number of oxygen molecules surrounding an individual C{sub 60} molecule. The T{sub 1}, due to paramagnetic relaxation, normalized by the number of surrounding oxygen molecules, is constant. This observation demonstrates that within a given sample, the dynamics of C{sub 60} molecules are independent of the number of surrounding oxygen molecules.