The Chemistry Of Fullerenes

The closed-cage carbon molecules known as fullerenes provide an entirely new branch of chemistry, materials science, and physics. Fullerene research is now engaging the frenetic attention of thousands of scientists. Initially, the chemistry was relatively slow to develop due to the low availability of material, and the need for state-of-the-art instrumentation for product analysis. This research area is now very definitely up-and-running, and will soon become the main focus of attention in the fullerene field. The number of published papers already runs into hundreds, and the main features of fullerene reactivity have been established. This book describes all of the known types of reactions as well as the means of production, the purification, and the properties of fullerenes.

Fullerenes and nanotubes are two classes of carbon structures or allotropes, which were discovered about 17 years ago. Since that time, many chemical derivatives have been synthesized using fullerenes and nanotubes as building blocks. Particularly promising was the theory that the chemical properties of fullerenes, and certain derivatives, made them likely candidates for anticancer drugs, inhibitors of viruses such as HIV, or even as anti-bacterials. Their cyctotoxicity can also be controlled by specific circumstances. In addition, the funtionalization of nanotubes has not only produced relatively simple derivatives, but also complex hybrids with biological macromolecules, which show unique supramolecular architecture and which are promising in many medical applications. The application of fullerenes and nanotubes in medicine is at the frontier of our knowledge, thus the work in this field represents the basis for future novel developments.

The creation of the hollow carbon buckminsterfullerene molecule as well as methods to produce and purify bulk quantities of it has triggered an explosive growth of research in the field. Superconducting and magnetic fullerides, atoms trapped inside the fullerene cage, chemically bonded fullerene complexes, and nanometer-scale helical carbon tubes are some of the leading areas that have generated much excitement.This book is intended as a guide to the literature for the scientist who is just entering fullerene research, and will be one more valuable volume to the collection for the established worker. It contains reprints of some sixty most important research papers, with focus especially on those papers that have guided further work in the field. There is also a short review of the field, with references to many other publications.

The aesthetically pleasing molecular architectures of fullerenes and nanotubes are appealing not only because of their beauty but also because they are responsible for the many unprecedented chemical and physical properties of this compound class. Although succession of exciting new discoveries continues unabated fullerene research has become a mature science. It is now possible to predict fullerene chemistry, to design new structure variations like open fullerene clusters, heterofullerenes and endohedral fullerenes, and to develop fullerene materials and modified nanotubes with high potential for technological applications. This volume represents the state-of-the-art of fullerene research, focussing on areas showing high potential for future growth and practical applications. The authors are leading scientists whose groups are making major contributions in the field.

This book is the first of its kind to reflect upon the intense and rapidly growing interest in open geodesic polyaromatic molecules, specifically focusing on their synthesis and reactivity in metal binding reactions. The book broadly covers all aspects related to the fullerene fragment chemistry: current synthetic techniques, description of the available members of this new family (which has grown to more than two dozens members, with none being available commercially), molecular geometry and trends in the solid state packing, as well as extensions into physical properties and new buckybowl-based molecules and materials. It covers fundamental research related to a new class of hydrocarbons, namely open geodesic polyarenes that map onto the surfaces of fullerenes (and referred to as fullerene fragments or buckybowls.

In this handbook, the leading experts in the field presents important and fundamental aspects of the organic and organometallic chemistry of fullerenes. Naturally they also cover the applications in material and medicinal science for these fascinating molecules. Completely self-contained, the book is logically arranged such that information is easy to retrieve, and the style lends itself to effortless reading and to learning more about the chemical properties of this family of molecules. A definitive "must" for everyone working in this ever-expanding sphere.