Two new fullerene derivatives have been synthesized, which tend to form Langmuir monolayers. Robust monomolecular layers are formed at the air/water interface, that can be transferred onto hydrophilic substrates by Langmuir–Blodgett or Langmuir–Schaefer techniques. The measured areas per molecule (105A ° 2 for 1a dropped from a deuteriochloroform solution at 20 °C) reach those expected for a true monolayer of C60 at the air/water interface.
