Breaking of Icosahedral Symmetry: C60 to C70

We describe the existence and structure of large fullerenes in terms of symmetry breaking of themolecule. Specifically, we describe the existence ofin terms of breaking of the icosahedral symmetry ofby the insertion into its middle of an additionaldecagon. The surface ofis formed by 12 regular pentagons and 25 regular hexagons. All 105 edges ofare of the same length. It should be noted that the structure of the molecules is described in exact coordinates relative to the non-orthogonal icosahedral bases. This symmetry breaking process can be readily applied, and could account for and describe other larger cage cluster fullerene molecules, as well as more complex higher structures such as nanotubes.