Bucky ball

In 1990, a third form of soHd carbon was confirmed and designated TuckniinsterfilUetenes. These 60-carbon (and 78-C) clusters are described as having the shape of a geodesic dome or soccer ball and hence are also known as "bucky balls" (5). 

It must be pointed out that the heterofuUerenes discussed above are not available today, and may never be available owing to synthetic limitations or unexpected instability not predicted in the above-mentioned theoretical studies. In comparison to carbon bucky balls, the chemistry of heterofuUerenes might have more important implications. Development of molecular engines and computers, derivatization for drug delivery, and applications in material science might be new scientific areas involving these interesting molecules. 

The "Bucky ball" (fullerene or "footbaii molecule" is a form of carbon first discovered in 1985 that enjoyed immediate popularity. 

Bucky balls (football molecules) were only discovered in 1985 and named fullerene after the architect Buckminster-Fuller. The Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1996 was awarded for this new carbon chemistry. Molecular tubes with this structure have particularly interesting properties. 

The 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to three American scientists for their identification of a new allotrope of aromatic carbon molecules called fullerenes. These unusual carbon molecules form a closed-cage structure of joined carbon atoms. The original soccer ball-shaped carbon molecule called buckminsterfullerene contained 60 carbon atoms and was nicknamed Bucky Ball in honor of Buckminster Fuller (1859—1983), who used similar shapes in some of his architectural structures. Since then additional organic pentagon structures beyond the original icosahedral fullerene (C ) have been developed, all with an even... 

The heads of the stopcock molecules are too large to be able to enter the channels. Typical functionalized groups such as bucky balls [34], chelating centers [35], and others can be used. Some examples are given in Fig. 21. Similarly to the labels, heads can be reactive or nonreactive. Reactive heads may have arms , which can interact with each other to form a monolayer polymer or bind to the zeolite external surface. 

These were bold and simple statements. To put them in a modern context, the discovery of triphenylmethyl combined the novelty of something like bucky balls with the controversial nature of something like polywater or cold fusion. Thus Gomberg was soon to find that the triphenylmethyl problem was attractive and complex enough to occupy him and many others for a long time. A first period lasted until about 1911 when the phenomena observed had been clarified to the satisfaction of a majority of the research community. Theoretically, little understanding was possible before the advent of the electron pair bond and, in particular, theory based on quantum mechanical concepts. This meant that the theory available... 

Fullerene is an ideal candidate as a component of molecular batteries because it shows six chemically and electrochemically reversible, one-electron reduction70 and one oxidation process.71 In particular, the first reduction process occurs at easy accessible potentials (—0.98 V versus Fc +/Fc in MeCN/toluene solution at 263 K)70 and it is thus the most suitable process to exploit in charge storing devices. To covalently append fullerene to the dendritic structure, chemical functionalization of the bucky-ball is necessary. Fortunately, most of its derivatives keep the reversible electrochemical properties of Ceo, at least for the first reduction process, which usually occurs at more negative potentials than that of fullerene. 

Bucky balls - [CARBON - CARBONAND ARTIFICIALGRAPHITE - STRUCTURETERMINOLOGY AND HISTORY] (Vol 4)... 

The less-lhan-scientific ring ascribed lo the comparatively recent discovery of a third form of carbon, the fullerenes. is reminiscent ad flavors used a few years ago to describe the various kinds of quarks In the field of high-energy physics. The technical literature on fullerenes. as of early 1994. features such terms as bucky-ball. buckminstcrfullerene. buckyiube, carbon cage, dopey ball, hairy ball. Russian doll, et al.. some of which termv are synonymous others have specific connotations. Considered as an entity, fiillercne chemistry constitutes a major breakthrough in the science of physics and chemistry of materials al the molecular level. 

This spherical structure is composed of 60 carbon atoms covalently bonded together. Further spherical forms of carbon, bucky balls , containing 70, 72 and 84 carbon atoms have been identified and the discovery has led to a whole new branch of inorganic carbon chemistry. It is thought that this type of molecule exists in chimney soot. Chemists have suggested that due to the large surface area of the bucky balls they may have uses as catalysts (Chapter 7, p. 109). Also they may have uses as superconductors. 

Fullerene Any of various cagelike molecules that constitute the third form of pure carbon (along with the forms diamond and graphite), whose prototype C60 (bucky-ball) is the roundest molecule that exists fullerenes are a class of discrete molecules, soccerball-shaped forms of carbon with extraordinary stability (so named because their configuration suggests the shape of Buckminster Fuller s famous geodesic dome)... 

Fullerene A convex cage of atoms with only hexagonal and/or pentagonal faces a molecular form of pure carbon discovered in 1985. The most common form produced is buckminsterfullerene (C60), with 60 carbon atoms arranged in a spherical structure. Larger fullerenes contain from 70 to 500 carbon atoms. Also known as Bucky Balls. ... 

Global chemicals giant Mitsubishi Chemical created a company named Frontier Carbon Corporation to manufacture tiny, high-strength carbon structures known as fiillerenes or bucky balls. Technically speaking, a fiillerene is a microscopic, round structure that is geodesic in nature. It has 60 joints across the rounded surface,... 

Digital Versatile Disk or Digital Video Disk (DVD) is invented The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Richard Smalley, Robert Curl, and Harry Kroto for their 1985 discovery of the third form of carbon, known as buckminsterfullerene ( bucky balls ) ... 

This award is considered to have generated a new field known as nanotechnology, as worldwide exposure was instantly aware of these nanoscale molecules, and other developments in this size regime were found shortly thereafter. It should be noted that the discovery of dendrimers by Denkwalter and coworkers from AlUed Corporation was disclosed in 1981, 4 years before bucky balls were discovered. It may be expected that these nanopolymeric materials will be extremely influential toward the nanotechnology revolution (see Chapter 5 for more information on dendritic materials). 

Repeating this process over and over could result in triple-buckyballs, quadruple-buckyballs, and so on. As this process is repeated, the bucky-ball becomes a long narrow tube called a nanotube. Nanotubes are long, thin, and extremely tiny tubes somewhat like a drinking straw or a long piece of spaghetti. 

Buckminsterfullerene, also called the bucky-ball, was found while researching interstellar matter. Scientists worked with various models of carbon structures until they determined that 60 carbons were most stable when joined together in a shape that resembles a soccer ball. 

FIGURE 1.1 Buckminsterfullerene a 60 carbon bucky ball , made entirely and exclusively of carbon. 

Fullerenes are molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of ellipsoids, spheres or tubes. Spherical fullerenes are called bucky balls . 

Fig. 12.3. Various geometrical structures related to that of the bucky-ball we show 60 atoms, which is spherical, 70 atoms, which becomes distorted from a sphere and 540 atoms, for which an icosahedral shape develops. Note that all the atomic sites are not equivalent. The structure of a giant fullerene, with 1500 atoms, is also shown (adapted in part from K. Prassides and H. Kroto [665]).

In molecular crystals, the binding energies are highly anisotropic due to the complex shape of the molecules in addition to the anisotropy inherent in the crystal packing. Most organic molecules have complex shapes (bucky balls being an exception), so the representation of a molecule as a cube, as in the Kossel crystal, is not a good approximation. A van der Waals box that reflects the shape of the molecule is a better approximation. 

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