Editing Buckminsterfullerene (section)

==History==
{{Further|Fullerene}}

{{multiple image
|align = left
|image1 = Hkroto.jpg
|width1 = 120
|caption1 = [[Harold Kroto]]
|width2 = 195
|caption2 = [[Richard Smalley]]
}}
[[Image:Football Pallo valmiina-cropped.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Many [[Ball (association football)|football]]s have the same arrangement of polygons as buckminsterfullerene, C<sub>60</sub>.]]
Theoretical predictions of buckminsterfullerene molecules appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref name=k363>[[#Katz|Katz]], 363</ref><ref name=Osawa>Osawa, E. (1970). Kagaku (Kyoto) (in Japanese). 25: 854</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|journal = New Scientist
|issue = 32
|year = 1966
|pages = 245
|title = Hollow molecules
|last = Jones
|first = David E. H.
}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Smalley |first=Richard E. |date=1997-07-01 |title=Discovering the fullerenes |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=723–730 |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.69.723|bibcode=1997RvMP...69..723S |citeseerx=10.1.1.31.7103 }}</ref> It was first generated in 1984 by Eric Rohlfing, Donald Cox, and Andrew Kaldor,<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.447994|bibcode=1984JChPh..81.3322R|title=Production and characterization of supersonic carbon cluster beams|journal=Journal of Chemical Physics|volume=81|issue=7|pages=3322|last1=Rohlfing|first1=Eric A|last2=Cox|first2=D. M|last3=Kaldor|first3=A|year=1984}}</ref> using a laser to vaporize carbon in a supersonic [[helium]] beam, although the group did not realize that buckminsterfullerene had been produced. In 1985 their work was repeated by [[Harold Kroto]], [[James R. Heath]], [[Sean C. O'Brien]], [[Robert Curl]], and [[Richard Smalley]] at [[Rice University]], who recognized the structure of C<sub>60</sub> as buckminsterfullerene.<ref name=Kroto />

Concurrent but unconnected to the Kroto-Smalley work, astrophysicists were working with spectroscopists to study infrared emissions from giant red carbon stars.<ref name=Dresselhaus>{{cite book |last1=Dresselhaus |first1=M. S. |author-link1=Mildred Dresselhaus|last2=Dresselhaus |first2=G. |last3=Eklund |first3=P. C. |title=Science of Fullerenes and Carbon Nanotubes |date=1996 |publisher=Academic Press |location=San Diego, CA |isbn=978-012-221820-0}}</ref><ref name=Herbog>{{cite journal |last=Herbig |first=E. |journal=Astrophys. J. |year=1975 |volume=196 |page=129|bibcode = 1975ApJ...196..129H |doi = 10.1086/153400 |title=The diffuse interstellar bands. IV – the region 4400-6850 A}}</ref><ref name=Leger>{{cite journal |last1=Leger |first1=A. |title=Remarkable candidates for the carrier of the diffuse interstellar bands: C<sub>60</sub><sup>+</sup> and other polyhedral carbon ions |last2=d'Hendecourt |first2=L. |last3=Verstraete |first3=L. |last4=Schmidt |first4=W. |journal=Astron. Astrophys. |year=1988 |volume=203 |issue=1 |page=145|bibcode = 1988A&A...203..145L}}</ref> Smalley and team were able to use a laser vaporization technique to create carbon clusters which could potentially emit infrared at the same wavelength as had been emitted by the red carbon star.<ref name=Dresselhaus/><ref name=Dietz>{{cite journal |last1=Dietz |first1=T. G. |last2=Duncan |first2=M. A. |last3=Powers |first3=D. E. |last4=Smalley |first4=R. E. |journal=J. Chem. Phys. |year=1981 |volume=74 |issue=11 |page=6511 |doi=10.1063/1.440991 |bibcode = 1981JChPh..74.6511D |title=Laser production of supersonic metal cluster beams}}</ref> Hence, the inspiration came to Smalley and team to use the laser technique on graphite to generate fullerenes.

Using [[laser]] [[evaporation]] of [[graphite]] the Smalley team found C<sub>''n''</sub> clusters (where {{nowrap|''n'' > 20}} and even) of which the most common were C<sub>60</sub> and C<sub>70</sub>. A solid rotating graphite disk was used as the surface from which carbon was vaporized using a laser beam creating hot plasma that was then passed through a stream of high-density helium gas.<ref name=Kroto>{{cite journal |last1=Kroto |first1=H. W. |last2=Health |first2=J. R. |last3=O'Brien |first3=S. C. |last4=Curl |first4=R. F. |last5=Smalley |first5=R. E. |title=C<sub>60</sub>: Buckminsterfullerene |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |year=1985 |volume=318 |pages=162–163 |doi=10.1038/318162a0 |bibcode=1985Natur.318..162K |issue=6042|s2cid=4314237 }}</ref> The carbon [[chemical species|species]]  were subsequently cooled and ionized resulting in the formation of clusters. Clusters ranged in molecular masses, but Kroto and Smalley found predominance in a C<sub>60</sub> cluster that could be enhanced further by allowing the plasma to react longer. They also discovered that C<sub>60</sub> is a cage-like molecule, a regular [[truncated icosahedron]].<ref name="Dresselhaus"/><ref name="Kroto"/>

The experimental evidence, a strong peak at 720 [[atomic mass unit]]s, indicated that a carbon molecule with 60 carbon atoms was forming, but provided no structural information. The research group concluded after reactivity experiments, that the most likely structure was a spheroidal molecule. The idea was quickly rationalized as the basis of an [[icosahedral]] [[symmetry]] closed cage structure.<ref name=k363/>

Kroto, Curl, and Smalley were awarded the 1996 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] for their roles in the discovery of buckminsterfullerene and the related class of molecules, the [[fullerene]]s.<ref name=k363/>

In 1989 physicists [[Wolfgang Krätschmer]], [[Konstantinos Fostiropoulos]], and [[Donald Huffman|Donald R. Huffman]] observed unusual optical absorptions in thin films of carbon dust (soot). The soot had been generated by an arc-process between two graphite [[electrodes]] in a helium atmosphere where the electrode material evaporates and condenses forming soot in the quenching atmosphere. Among other features, the [[Infrared spectroscopy|IR spectra]] of the soot showed four discrete bands in close agreement to those proposed for C<sub>60</sub>.<ref>Conference proceedings of "Dusty Objects in the Universe", pp.b 89–93, [https://www.springer.com/us/book/9780792308638# "Search for the UV and IR spectra of C<sub>60</sub> in laboratory-produced carbon dust"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905142659/https://www.springer.com/us/book/9780792308638 |date=2017-09-05 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/0009-2614(90)87109-5 | volume=170 | issue=2–3 | title=The infrared and ultraviolet absorption spectra of laboratory-produced carbon dust: evidence for the presence of the C<sub>60</sub> molecule | year=1990 | journal=Chemical Physics Letters | pages=167–170 | last1 = Krätschmer | first1 = W.| bibcode=1990CPL...170..167K | doi-access=free}}</ref>

Another paper on the characterization and verification of the molecular structure followed on in the same year (1990) from their thin film experiments, and detailed also the extraction of an evaporable as well as [[benzene]]-soluble material from the arc-generated soot. This extract had [[Transmission electron microscopy|TEM]] and [[X-ray]] crystal analysis consistent with arrays of spherical C<sub>60</sub> molecules, approximately 1.0&nbsp;nm in [[Van der Waals radius|van der Waals diameter]]<ref name="buckminsterfullerene3"/> as well as the expected molecular mass of 720&nbsp;Da for C<sub>60</sub> (and 840&nbsp;Da for C<sub>70</sub>) in their [[mass spectroscopy|mass spectra]].<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1038/347354a0|title = Solid C<sub>60</sub>: A new form of carbon|journal = Nature|volume = 347|issue = 6291|pages = 354–358|year = 1990|last1 = Krätschmer|first1 = W.|last2 = Lamb|first2 = Lowell D.|last3 = Fostiropoulos|first3 = K.|last4 = Huffman|first4 = Donald R.|bibcode = 1990Natur.347..354K|s2cid = 4359360}}</ref> The method was simple and efficient to prepare the material in gram amounts per day (1990) which has boosted the fullerene research and is even today applied for the commercial production of fullerenes.

The discovery of practical routes to C<sub>60</sub> led to the exploration of a new field of chemistry involving the study of fullerenes.

===Etymology===
The discoverers of the [[allotropy|allotrope]] named the newfound molecule after American architect [[Buckminster Fuller|R. Buckminster Fuller]], who designed many [[geodesic dome]] structures that look similar to C<sub>60</sub> and who had died in 1983, the year before discovery.<ref name=k363/> Another common name for buckminsterfullerene is "buckyballs".<ref>{{cite web |title=What is a geodesic dome? |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bucky/feature/what-is-a-geodesic-dome |website=R. Buckminster Fuller Collection: Architect, Systems Theorist, Designer, and Inventor |date=6 April 2017 |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=10 June 2019 |archive-date=12 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112232718/https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bucky/feature/what-is-a-geodesic-dome |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>The AZo Journal of Materials Online. AZoM.com. "Buckminsterfullerene." 2006.</ref>