Carbon, chiral molecular allotropes

Concept With the discovery of the fullerenes, it has become evident that elemental carbon can exist in almost an infinite number of stable allotropes that are either molecular or polymeric in nature. Whereas achiral and chiral fullerenes can now be prepared in bulk quantities and methods for their regio- and stereoselective multiple functionalization are being developed in increasing numbers, the... 

Although not a perfect fullerene spheroid, another chiral carbon allotrope, C119, was isolated in the form of a 13C-enriched sample from the thermolysis of Ci2o0.74 On grounds of the obtained 13C NMR spectra as well as molecular modeling, Kratschmer and co-workers proposed a C2-symmetric, peanut-shaped structure consisting of two fullerene-like C58 units bridged by three sp3-C-atoms, two of which are symmetry-equivalent.74... 

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