Two-dimensional graphite layer

Figure 10.47. Structure (j) (truncated icosahedron) is well known to the chemical community as buck-minsterfullerene, C6o, comprising hexagons and pentagons. It has been well established, both chemically and geometrically, that the pentagons in the structure are necessary to effect three-dimensional closure, and without them only open, two-dimensional graphitic layers are formed. All fullerenes, and even the topical Bucky tubes (Figure 10.2), that consist of fused hexagons are open at both ends unless pentagons are incorporated into the structure.

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