A series of scarce fulleropyrrolines were synthesized via DMAP-mediated one-step reaction of [60]fullerene with commercially inexpensive aromatic aldehydes and arylmethanamines in the absence or presence of manganese(III) acetate. In the case of aminodiphenylmethane, novel 2,5,5-trisubstituted fulleropyrrolines could be easily obtained without the addition of manganese(III) acetate. As for arylmethanamines without α-substitutions, the addition of manganese(III) acetate was required to suppress the formation of fulleropyrrolidines, in order to generate the desired 2,5-disubstituted fulleropyrrolines. Two tautomers were produced as expected when different aryl groups (Ar1 ≠ Ar2) from aromatic aldehydes and arylmethanamines were employed in the synthesis. A plausible reaction mechanism for the formation of fulleropyrrolines is proposed.

A series of scarce tetrahydropyridinofullerenes were synthesized by the metal-free-mediated reaction of [60]fullerene with cheap and easily available α-methyl-substituted arylmethanamines and aldehydes in the presence of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) in moderate to good yields comparable to the previously reported data for most monoadducts. The in situ generation of azadienes played a crucial role in the successful synthesis of tetrahydropyridinofullerenes. A plausible reaction mechanism was proposed to elucidate the reaction process.

Reaction of [60]fullerene with β-substituted ethylamines under air conditions generated a series of scarce fulleropyrrolines with trisubstituted alkene functional groups in moderate yields.