Buckyball, Anyone

Fullerenes represent a whole new concept in molecular architecture with far-reaching implications. Studies have shown that the fullerenes and their compounds can act as high-temperature superconductors and lubricants, as well as catalysts. One fascinating discovery, made in 1991 by Japanese scientists, was the identification of structural relatives of buckyball. These molecules are hundreds of nanometers long with a tubular shape and an internal cavity about 15 nm in diameter. Dubbed buckytubes or nanotubes (because of their size), these molecules have two distinctly different structures. One is a single sheet of graphite that is capped at both ends with a kind of truncated buckyball. The 

The geometry of a buckyball (Cgo) (left) resembles a soccer baU (right). Scientists arrived at this structure by fitting together paper cutouts of enough hexagons and pentagons to accommodate 60 carbon atoms at the points where they 

In the first biological application of buckyball, chemists at the University of California at San Francisco and Santa Barbara made a discovery in 1993 that could help in designing drugs to treat ADDS. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS reproduces by synthesizing a long protein chain, which is cut into smaller segments by an enzyme called HIV-protease. 

One way to stop AIDS, then, might be to inactivate the enzyme. When the chemists reacted a water-soluble derivative of buckyball with HIV-protease, they found that the buckyball derivative binds to the portion of the enzyme that 

6 The Interactions Between Molecules Greatly Affect the Bulk Properties of Materials 

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Dave Cole I have heard some discussion about actually trying to engineer the carbon to get it to hold onto the hydrogen in the form of either the NO2 structures or even buckyballs. I don t know if anyone here has heard of this or done any work on it. If so, I would like to hear about it. In the recovery, is the problem that whatever surfaces you have get coated with the carbon ... 

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