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The Mechanism of Fullerence Formation
Author(s) -
Schwarz Helmut
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition in english
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 0570-0833
DOI - 10.1002/anie.199314121
Subject(s) - fullerene , bicyclic molecule , chemistry , stereochemistry , organic chemistry
“Next to nothing is known about how fullerenes actually grow and form.” This statement was published in spring. Soon thereafter Bowers et al. published a series of articles that seem to be the light at the end of the tunnel. According to these studies, in graphite vaporization primarily C + n , clusters form from single C atoms. These species are linear (for C + 5to C + 10 ), monocyclic (for C + 7to C + 28 ), and planar‐bicyclic cations (for C + 21to about C + 50 ); fullerenes are also present above C + 30 . The most important new insight is that the mono‐ and bicyclic C + nspecies isomerize directly to fullerenes on addition of energy; „cooling” of the „excited” fullerenes takes place by loss of C 1 , C 2 , or C 3 units.