N 1 2-Rule for Spherical Aromaticity

It was discovered, however, that the spherical aromaticity of the icosahedral fullerenes C20, Cjq and CgQ depends on the filling of the Jt-sheUs with electrons [107]. As pointed out in Section 14.3.1 no distortion of the cage structure is expected in these fullerenes if their shells are fully filled. Closed-shell situations are realized if the fullerene contains 2(N -1-1) Jt electrons. This is closely related to the stable noble-gas configuration of atoms or atomic ions [108]. In this case the electron distribution is spherical and all angular momenta are symmetrically distributed. Correlation of the aromatic character determined by the magnetic properties is shown in Table 14.3. 

One key conclusion is that the entire molecule must be taken into account to understand the aromatic properties of icosahedral fullerenes. The 2(N -1-1) rule of spherical aromaticity also sufficiently describes the magnetic behavior of non-icosahedral fullerenes [128], homoaromatic cage molecules [129], and inorganic cage molecules [130], 

Clearly, for fullerenes with a lower symmetry, local substructures, such as the cyclic phenylene belt of C7Q, can also largely determine the magnetic behavior. 

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