Analysis of sample of highly water-soluble Th-symmetric fullerenehexamalonic acid C66(COOH)12 by ion-chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

Ion chromatography (IC) was used to establish isomer purity of the highly water-soluble sample of fullerenehexamalonic acid, Th-symmetric hexakis-adduct C66(COOH)12. Sharp and symmetric peaks were obtained by IC using 1.0 M potassium hydroxide as eluent and applying gradient elution program. The identity of the two largest peaks in the chromatogram was assigned to Th-C66(COOH)12 and C66H(COOH)11. The developed IC procedure can be used for the semi-quantitative determination of the extent of the partial decarboxylation of the sample. As an alternative analytical technique, a CE procedure was introduced and its performance against IC was compared for this particular case.