Buckminsterfullerene buckyballs, fullerenes

One of the most elegant classes of molecules is that of the fullerenes, which are carbon compounds in the form of hollow spheres, constructed of twelve five-sided faces and different numbers of six-sided faces. The smallest fullerene has thirty-two carbon atoms the larger ones have several hundred carbon atoms. The first fullerene was discovered in 1985, by two Americans, Richard Smalley (1943-) and Robert Curl (1933-), and an English chemist, Harry Kroto (1939-). The fullerene with sixty carbon atoms, C60, has a structure similar to the geodesic dome invented by the architect Buckminster Fuller. In a whimsical tribute, the whole class of substances was named after the American architect, and his whole name was used for C60, buckminsterfullerene, or, as it is cheerfully known, the buckyball. Fullerenes are stable and can trap other atoms or small molecules inside their spheres. We have scarcely begun to discover their potential uses. 

Synonyms Buckminsterfullerene Buckyball Footballene Fullerene C(60) [5,6]-Fullerene-Ceo-lh... 

Billups, W. E. Ciufolini, M.A. (Eds.) Buckminsterfullerenes, VCH, NY, 1993 Taylor, R. (Ed.) The Chemistry of Fullerenes, World Scientific, River Edge, NJ, Singapore, 1995 Aldersey-Williams, H. The Most Beautiful Molecule The Discovery of the Buckyball ... 

There now are known to be a whole family of caged carbon structures having various numbers of carbon atoms, including C30, C50, C7o, C72, C76, Cg4, and the huge C540. The name fullerene has replaced the unwieldy, Buckminsterfullerene used to describe this general spheroid structure of carbon, although they still are referred to as Buckyballs . 

Figure 4.19C shows Ceo, which is one type of fullerene discovered in 1985. It was given the name buckminsterfullerene because it resembles the geodesic-domed structure designed by architect R. Buckminster Fuller. Also known as buckyballs, Ceo is just one of several fullerenes that have been discovered. Others have been shown to have the formula C70, C74, and C82. Because of their spherical shape, researchers have speculated that fullerenes might make good lubricants. 

Cgg was named buckminsterfullerene, in honor of the visionary American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983). Fuller is known for developing and promoting the geodesic dome, which resembles. (Buckminsterfullerene molecules are also sometimes called buckyballs.) Later, researchers discovered this molecule belongs to a family of related carbon structures, which have become known as fuller-enes. The smallest fullerene is containing 20 carbon atoms. 

Buckminsterfullerene, or buckyball The simplest form of a fullerene resembles a miniature soccer ball made of 60 carbon atoms stuck together. 

Until 1985, the only known elemental forms of carbon were diamond, graphite, and amorphous carbon. Then Kroto et al. announced the discovery of C6o, a spherical arrangement of carbon atoms in hexagons and pentagons, as shown in Figure 17.7. They called this form Buckminsterfullerene after the architect Buckminster Fuller, who developed the geodesic dome. The name for this type of carbon molecule has since been shortened to fullerene, but it is commonly called a buckyball. Since this first discovery, it has been found that fullerenes can be made in quantity from electrical arcs between graphite electrodes. About 75% of... 

As stated by Smalley, the name [fullerene] was bom in the dimmest early thinking of how a pure carbon cluster of 60 atoms could eliminate its dangling bonds (Billups and Ciufolini, 1993, foreword vi). In an effort to make clear the shape of the cluster, Smalley asked Kroto the name of the architect who worked with big domes. The answer was Buckminister Fuller. Carbon clusters of all sizes were subsequently named Buckminsterfullerenes, fullerenes, or sometimes buckyballs. A third allotrope of carbon had thus been added to the two (graphite and diamond) already known (see Figure 1). 

One of the most fascinating developments in modem chemistry has been the synthesis of buckminsterfullerene, C60, and the related fullerenes ( buckyballs ) with their geodesic dome-like shapes. First reported as synthesized in the gas phase... 

A, Crystals of buckminsterfullerene (Ceo) are shown leading to a ball-and-stick model. The parent of the fullerenes, the buckyball, is a soccer ball-shaped molecule of 60 carbon atoms. B, Nanotubes are single or, as shown in this colorized transmission electron micrograph, concentric graphite-like tubes with fullerene ends. 

Buckyballs, or buckminsterfullerenes, are sphere-shaped fullerenes. The most common is Ceo, which is a sphere composed of alternating five- and six-membered rings of carbon atoms like a soccer ball. This molecule can actually be found in common soot, but don t think you can start selling the remains of your bonfire for cutting-edge fullerene research—it s very, very difficult to purify Ceo. 

In addition, since the mid-1980s the chemistry of elemental carbon has flourished. This phenomenon began with the discovery of fullerenes, most notably the cluster Cgo, dubbed buckminsterfullerene after the developer of the geodesic dome. Many other fullerenes (buckyballs) are now known and serve as cores of a variety of derivatives. In... 

Because C50 clusters were so preferentially formed, the group proposed a radically different form of carbon, namely, nearly spherical CgQ molecules. They proposed that the carbon atoms of Cgo form a ball with 32 faces, 12 of them pentagons and 20 hexagons ( FIGURE 12.47), exactly like a soccer ball. The shape of this molecule is reminiscent of the geodesic dome invented by the U.S. engineer and philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller, so Cgo was whimsically named buckminsterfullerene, or buckyball for short. Since the discovery of C q, other related molecules of carbon atoms have been discovered. These molecules are now known as fullerenes. 

Around 1985, ICroto, Smalley, and Curl (Rice University) isolated a molecule of formula C o from the soot produced by using a laser (or an electric arc) to vaporize graphite. Molecular spectra showed that C o is unusually symmetrical It has only one type of carbon atom by C NMR (6143 ppm), and there are only two types of bonds (1.39 A and 1.45 A). Figure 16-16 shows the structure of C o, which was named buckminsterfullerene in honor of the American architect R. Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes used similar five- and six-membered rings to form a curved roof. The C o molecules are sometimes called buckyballs, and these types of compounds (C o and similar carbon clusters) are called fullerenes. 

Fullerene is a spherical-shaped molecule composed of carbon only, the molecular shape of which resembles the ball used in football (soccer), and hence the name buckyball, as shown in Figure 5.3 [38]. Ihe first discovered fullerene molecule, the buckminsterfullerene (C ) was synthesized by R. Smalley, R. Curl, J. Fleath, S. O Brien and H. Kroto of Rice University... 

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