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Hard coatings deposited by physical vapour deposition (PVD) are commonly used to improve the scratch resistance and hardness of objects made of softer materials such as steel, and they can also be used as decorative coatings since they exhibit a wide range of different colours. In this research, stainless steel tableware utensils were coated with multilayer Ti/TiCN thin films to give the tableware a wear-resistant decorative finish. A cathodic arc PVD system was used to deposit the coatings since it has the potential to produce very dense coatings with excellent adhesion and wear-resistance properties in relatively short deposition times. Several system parameters were varied between deposition cycles to create a large set of samples which included: changing the amount of flatware present inside of the chamber during deposition, changing the size of the flatware used, changing the mounting location of the flatware inside of the chamber, and changing the depletion level of the titanium cathode targets used to deposit titanium. It was found that changing these variables had an effect on the deposition rate of the coating and thus had an effect on the thickness of the titanium interlayer, which was found to be an important factor in achieving good adhesion of the TiCN layer. The optimal titanium interlayer thickness was found to be in the range of approximately 120 to 230 nm. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

This dissertation addresses the exohedral cage functionalization and potential applications of the Sc₃N@C₈₀ and Sc₃N@C₇₈ trimetallic nitride endohedral metallofullerenes. In addition, this dissertation discusses miscellaneous research that is relevant to the aformentioned metallofullerenes and their applications, such as the discovery of a new cage isomer <i>(D_5h)</i> of Sc₃N@C₈₀, the synthesis of Lu₃N@C₈₀ as a novel X-ray contrasting agent, and the synthesis of Sc₃¹⁵N@C₈₀ with ¹⁵N₂ gas. The first derivative of Sc₃N@C₈₀ was synthesized by functionalizing the exterior of the cage via a [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction with a ¹³C-labeled intermediate. Addition occurred across the [5,6] ring-juncture of the cage to form a mono-adduct, which has a mirror plane of symmetry as observed from the time-averaged ¹³C NMR spectrum. The structure of the mono-adduct was confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Diethyl and dibenzyl malonate adducts of Sc₃N@C₈₀ were synthesized, in addition to a ¹⁵N-labeled terminal amine derivative. Water-soluble metallofullerenols, Sc₃N@C₈₀(OH)_~10(O)_~10, were synthesized from polyanionic intermediates. The Sc₃N@C₇₈ metallofullerene was derivatized with a ¹³C-labeled reagent to afford mono-, di- and tri-adducts. A single structural isomer of the mono-adduct was found, while several isomers of the di- and tri-adducts were observed by HPLC. ¹³C and ¹H NMR data of the mono-adduct support a structure that results from addend addition to an asymmetric site on the C₇₈ carbon cage. The HPLC isolation and characterization of Lu₃N@C₈₀ is discussed. When irradiated with X-rays, Lu₃N@C₈₀ provided a small level of contrast that can only be attributed to the large atomic number (Z) of the lutetium atoms. Mixed-metal species that contains gadolinium and lutetium or holmium and lutetium could be employed as multifunctional contrasting agents for X-ray, MRI and radiopharmaceuticals, thereby eliminating the need for three separate agents. A new cage isomer of the Sc₃N@C₈₀ metallofullerene was synthesized and partially isolated by HPLC. This carbon cage possesses <i>D_5h</i> symmetry, as indicated by the time-averaged six line ¹³C NMR spectrum with a 1:2:2:1:1:1 ratio. The internal metal-nitride cluster of Sc₃N@C₈₀ was synthesized with a ¹⁵N-label for studying the motion(s) of the cluster (within the carbon cage) at various temperatures using ¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy. / Ph. D.

Endohedral metallofullerenes (EMF) have attracted increasing attention during past decades for their potential applications in the fields of biomedicine and nanomaterials. Trimetallic nitride template endohedral metallofullerenes (TNT EMFs) are some of the most promising fullerene-based materials (e.g., as MRI and X-ray contrast agents) because of their high yields compared to classic endohedral metallofullerenes. This dissertation addresses the chemical reactivity and regioselectivity of TNT EMFs. Based on the extraordinarily high stability of TNT EMFs relative to empty cage fullerenes and classic endohedral metallofullerenes, macroscopic quantities of high purity TNT EMFs were obtained directly from crude soot in a single facile step by using a cyclopentadiene-functionalized resin to trap the more reactive species via Diels-Alder reactions, allowing the TNT EMFs to pass through. We also developed a support-free chemical separation method of TNT EMFs from Sc- and Lu-based soot extract that makes use of the differing solubilities of unreacted TNT EMFs versus 9-methylanthracene-derivatized empty cage fullerenes. The exohedral functionalization of metallofullerenes can fine-tune their chemical and physical properties. The first N-methylpyrrolidino derivatives of TNT EMFs (Ih Sc3N@C80 and Ih Er3N@C80) were synthesized via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of N-methylazomethine ylides (Prato reaction). The demonstration of planar symmetry in the N-methylpyrrolidino derivatives by 13C NMR spectroscopy suggested that the reaction exclusively took place at the 5,6-ring junction. However, both 5,6-ring and 6,6 ring junction adducts were obtained when Ih Sc3N@C80 reacted with N-triphenylmethyl-5-oxazolidinone, as characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The kinetically favored 6,6-ring junction adduct was converted to the thermodynamic product, the 5,6-ring junction adduct, upon thermal equilibration. The synthesis of pyrrolidino derivatives was also extended to two other Sc-based TNT EMFs, D5h Sc3N@C80 and Sc3N@C78. The reactivity and regioselectivity of D5h Sc3N@C80 and Sc3N@C78 were demonstrated by NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and theoretical calculations. Another type of reaction, the Bingel-Hirsch cyclopropanation was carried out with D3h Sc3N@C78 for the first time, yielding a single Cs-symmetric monoadduct and a dominant C2v-symmetric diadduct for the first time. The symmetric diadduct clearly demonstrates the remarkable regioselectivity control exerted by the encapsulated Sc3N cluster. We employed a LUMO electron density surface computational approach to predict multiadduct docking sites on the ellipsoidal fullerene cage surface. We also successfully synthesized the first derivative of a non-IPR fullerene, the diethyl malonate derivative of Sc3N@C68 by a Bingel-Hirsch reaction. The reactivity and regioselectivity of Sc3N@C68 were investigated by NMR spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. / Ph. D.

This thesis addresses the synthesis of a new mix-metal trimetallic nitride template endohedral metallofullerene (TNT-EMF) and the functionalizations of M3N@C80 (M = Sc, Gd, Ho) under the high-speed vibration milling (HSVM) condition. In addition, this thesis discusses the internal motion of the cluster, Sc3N inside three different carbon cages, C68, C78 and C80. Water-soluble derivatives of endohedral metallofullerenes possess a unique potential for medical applications, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents, X-ray contrast agents and nuclear medicine. The TNT-EMFs have inherent advantages over other endohedral metallofullerenes, such as M@C60 and M@C82, due to the encapsulation of up to three metal atoms inside the carbon cages. M3N@C80(OH)m(O)n (M = Sc, Gd, Ho) were synthesized under the HSVM condition and characterized by FT-IR, MALDI-TOF and XPS. The relaxivity studies on these water-soluble derivatives have shown that Gd-based metallofullerols have significantly higher relaxivities than commercially used MRI contrast agents (e.g. OmniscanTM) and can be the next generation MRI contrast agent. The Ho containing species has a high R2/R1 ratio compared to other samples showing the potential to be a T2 agent. In contrast to homonuclear M3N clusters, there is a paucity of mixed-metal cluster cases of TNT-EMFs reported to date because the mixed-metal metallofullerenes are difficult to be separated and purified. In this thesis, CeSc2N@C80 was synthesized, separated in pure form and fully characterized. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction shows that CeSc2N@C80 consists of a four atom asymmetric top (CeSc2N) inside a C80 (Ih ) carbon cage and the nitride ion is not located at the center of the carbon cage but is offset by 0.36 &Aring;. The NMR studies, together with the XPS results, show that CeSc2N@C80 is a weakly paramagnetic system with a single buried f electron spin. A new cage isomer of the Sc3N@C80 (D5h) metallofullerene was also isolated from the Ce-Sc mixture and the cage symmetry was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The internal motion of the metal-nitride cluster, Sc3N within the carbon cages (C68, C78 and C80) was studied at various temperatures using 45Sc NMR spectroscopy. The reorientation barriers (presumably dominated by motion internal to the cage) were calculated for these three TNT-EMFs. The preliminary results show that the quadrupole coupling constant of Sc3N@C80 (Ih) is quite close to that of Sc3N@C68. / Master of Science