When I first studied Chemistry, I learned that there are two allotropes of carbon: graphite and diamond. As you know, these two forms of pure carbon have dramatically different mechanical, electrical, optical and thermal properties. Then, in the early 1990s, I read with excitement about a new form of pure carbon, carbon-60, which consists of 60 carbon atoms bonded together in a polyhedral structure which resembles a soccer ball:
[ image source ]
This novel molecule was named Buckminsterfullerene (after Buckminster Fuller), and is colloquially called buckyball. The beautiful carbon-60 molecule was discovered in the mid-1980s at Rice University by Robert F. Curl Jr., James R. Heath, Sir Harold W. Kroto, Sean C. O’Brien, and Richard E. Smalley by vaporizing carbon with a laser beam and allowing the carbon atoms to reconstitute in clusters with a “soccer-ball-like” structure. The following documentary (divided in 5 parts) tells the exciting story of this discovery:
[ part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 ]
In 1996, Bob Curl, Harry Kroto and Rick Smalley won the Nobel prize in Chemistry for the discovery of carbon-60.
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Related:
- Art, buckyballs and chemistry: the ABCs of discovery. A conversation with Nobel Laureate Sir Harold Kroto (Nov. 2, 2007)
Tags: Buckminsterfullerene, Carbon, Carbon-60, Chemistry, Documentaries, Donald R. Huffman, Harold W. Kroto, James R. Heath, Richard E. Smalley, Robert F. Curl Jr., Sean C. O'Brien, Wolfgang Krätschmer
July 7, 2010 at 19:18 |
It is beautiful despite its small size. But its size, around 9 nm across, is just the right size to fit into a DNA helix and to mechanically hinder replication. I think. Wish I could recall the article that got me looking into them (around 2003 or 4). Something about the death of some being attributed to buckyballs that had lodged themselves in the end of DNA that had not yet unwound.