The cycloaddition reaction of azido oligopyridine with [60]fullerene was used to synthesize two novel [60]fullerene derivatives containing bi/tri-pyridyl group, which were employed to self-assemble on the surface of gold nanoparticles. Optical nonlinearities of the gold nanoparticles in chloroform were determined by Z-scan technique and the optical limiting experiments with 532 nm, 8 ns and 40 ps duration laser pulses. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.