The Chemical Physics Of Fullerenes 10 And 5 Years Later

A decade has elapsed since the discovery of C60 in molecular beams, and five years since the first synthesis of solid C60. At the time, the opening of a new era for chemistry was foreseen and high expectations were shared by physicists and material scientists. Where are we now? Where are we aiming? What can we expect from now on? The answer will be found in this volume, written by the protagonists of the fullerene adventure. There is a whole new generation of materials now, in the form of molecules, solids, nanostructures, either directly derived from Bucky or inspired by it. They continue to create new challenges to our fundamental understanding and seem to be ready for important, long-lasting applications. Audience: The book is mainly directed to specialized scientists - physicists, chemists, material scientists and biochemists - who will find it a source of learning and inspiration. Younger researchers, too, will find it fascinating, since it allows them to learn about and quickly acquire a critical view of an interdisciplinary, frontier subject.

In September 1985, in an attempt to simulate the chemistry in a carbon star, Harry Kroto, Bob Curl and Richard Smalley set up a mass spectrometry experiment to study the plasma produced by focusing a pulsed laser on solid graphite. Serendipitously, a dominant 720 amu mass peak corresponding to a C60 species was revealed in the time-of-flight mass spectrum of the resulting carbon clusters. It was proposed that this C60 cluster had the closed cage structure of a truncated icosahedron (a soccerball) and was named Buckminsterfullerene because geodesic dome concepts, pioneered by the architect Buckminster Fuller, played an important part in arriving at this solution. The signal for a C70 species (840 amu) , proposed to have the ellipsoidal shape of a rugbyball, was also prominent in the early experiments. Five years later, the seminal work of the Sussex! Rice collaboration was triumphantly confirmed as Wolfgang Krlitschmer and Donald Huffman succeeded in producing, and separating, bulk crystalline samples of fullerene material from arc-processed (in an inert gas atmosphere) carbon deposits. From then onwards, fullerene research continued, and still proceeds, at an exhilarating pace. The materials excited the imagination of many diverse classes of scientists, resulting in a truly interdisciplinary field. Many of our old, seemingly well-founded, preconceptions in carbon science had to be radically altered or totally abandoned, as a new round world of chemistry, physics and materials science began to unfold.

This continuing authoritative series deals with the chemistry, materials science, physics and technology of the rare earth elements in an integrated manner. Each chapter is a comprehensive, up-to-date, critical review of a particular segment of the field. The work offers the researcher and graduate student a complete and thorough coverage of this fascinating field. Authoritative Comprehensive Up-to-date Critical

Fullerene, molekulare "Fu?balle" aus 60 oder mehr Kohlenstoffatomen, sind eine Substanzklasse mit vielversprechenden Zukunftsaussichten, beispielsweise als Halbleiter, als Basis pharmazeutischer Wirkstoffe oder Polymerwerkstoffe. Dieses Buch bietet Ihnen einen aktuellen Uberblick uber das dynamische Forschungsgebiet. Zur Sprache kommen modernste Themen wie Metallofullerene, Nanorohren und organisch funktionalisierte Fullerenverbindungen. (06/00)