Bulk chemicals such as ethylene glycol (EG) can be industrially synthesized from either ethylene or syngas, but the latter undergoes a bottleneck reaction and requires high hydrogen pressures. We show that fullerene (exemplified by C ₆₀ ) can act as an electron buffer for a copper-silica catalyst (Cu/SiO ₂ ). Hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate over a C ₆₀ -Cu/SiO ₂ catalyst at ambient pressure and temperatures of 180° to 190°C had an EG yield of up to 98 ± 1%. In a kilogram-scale reaction, no deactivation of the catalyst was seen after 1000 hours. This mild route for the final step toward EG can be combined with the already-industrialized ambient reaction from syngas to the intermediate of dimethyl oxalate.

Carboncones, a special family of all-carbon allotropes, are predicted to have unique properties that distinguish them from fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphenes. Owing to the absence of methods to synthesize atomically well-defined carboncones, however, experimental insight into the nature of pure carboncones has been inaccessible. Herein, we describe a facile synthesis of an atomically well-defined carboncone[1,2] (C₇₀H₂₀) and its soluble penta-mesityl derivative. Identified by x-ray crystallography, the carbon skeleton is a carboncone with the largest possible apex angle. Much of the structural strain is overcome in the final step of converting the bowl-shaped precursor into the rigid carboncone under mild reaction conditions. This work provides a research opportunity for investigations of atomically precise single-layered carboncones having even higher cone walls and/or smaller apex angles.

Hundreds of members have been synthesized and versatile applications have been promised for endofullerenes (EFs) in the past 30 y. However, the formation mechanism of EFs is still a long-standing puzzle to chemists, especially the mechanism of embedding clusters into charged carbon cages. Here, based on synthesis and structures of two representative vanadium–scandium–carbido/carbide EFs, VSc ₂ C@ I _h (7)-C ₈₀ and VSc ₂ C ₂ @ I _h (7)-C ₈₀ , a reasonable mechanism—C ₁ implantation (a carbon atom is implanted into carbon cage)—is proposed to interpret the evolution from VSc ₂ C carbido to VSc ₂ C ₂ carbide cluster. Supported by theoretical calculations together with crystallographic characterization, the single electron on vanadium (V) in VSc ₂ C@ I _h (7)-C ₈₀ is proved to facilitate the C ₁ implantation. While the V=C double bond is identified for VSc ₂ C@ I _h (7)-C ₈₀ , after C ₁ implantation the distance between V and C atoms in VSc ₂ C ₂ @ I _h (7)-C ₈₀ falls into the range of single bond lengths as previously shown in typical V-based organometallic complexes. This work exemplifies in situ self-driven implantation of an outer carbon atom into a charged carbon cage, which is different from previous heterogeneous implantation of nonmetal atoms (Group-V or -VIII atoms) driven by high-energy ion bombardment or high-pressure offline, and the proposed C ₁ implantation mechanism represents a heretofore unknown metal–carbon cluster encapsulation mechanism and can be the fundamental basis for EF family genesis.