Fullerenes

Until the mid 1980's, pure carbon was thought to exist in two forms: graphite and diamond. The discovery of C₆₀ molecules in interstellar dust in 1985 added a third form to this list. The existence of C₆₀, which resembles a soccer ball, had been hypothesized by theoretians for many years. In the late 1980's synthetic methods were developed for the synthesis of C₆₀, and the ready availability of this form of carbon led to extensive research into its properties.

Figure 1.1 : Example of fullerenes: a buckyball (C60 on left and an extended bucktube. Images used with permission from Wikipedia.

The C₆₀ molecule (Figure 1.1. ; left), is called buckminsterfullerene, though the shorter name fullerene is often used. The name is a tribute to the American architect R. Buckminster Fuller, who is famous for designing and constructing geodesic domes which bear a close similarity to the structure of C₆₀. As is evident from the display, C₆₀ is a sphere composed of six-member and five-member carbon rings. These balls are sometimes fondly referred to as "Bucky balls". It should be noted that fullerenes are an entire class of pure carbon compounds rather than a single compound. A distorted sphere containing more than 60 carbon atoms have also been found, and it is also possible to create long tubes (Figure 1.1.; right). All of these substances are pure carbon.

مواضيع ذات صلة

كيمياء القصدير

تطبيقات الطبقات الثنائية الهيدروكسيد

تطبيقات عملية التبادل الأيوني

مواد التبادل الأيوني Ion exchanger

ظاهرة التبادل الايوني Ion Exchange

تاريخ التبادل الايوني Ion Exchange History

كيمياء البلاتين ومعقداته

كيمياء البلاديوم ومعقداته

طرائق تقدير النحاس

كيمياء النحاس ومعقداته

طرائق تقدير النيكل

كيمياء النيكل ومعقداته