Buckminsterfullerene is a spherical molecule with the formula C60. It was first prepared in 1985 by Harold Kroto, James Heath, Sean O'Brien, Robert Curland Richard Smalley at Rice University. 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 fullerenes. The name is an homage to Richard Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes it resembles. Buckminsterfullerene was the first fullerene molecule discovered and it is also the most common in terms of natural occurrence, as it can be found in small quantities in soot.
The structure of a buckminsterfullerene is a truncated icosahedron made of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons, with a carbon atom at the vertices of each polygon and a bond along each polygon edge. The van der Waals diameter of a C60 molecule is about 1 nanometer (nm). The nucleus to nucleus diameter of a C60 molecule is about 0.71 nm. The C60 molecule has two bond lengths. The 6:6 ring bonds (between two hexagons) can be considered "double bonds" and are shorter than the 6:5 bonds (between a hexagon and a pentagon). Its average bond length is 1.4 angstroms. Each carbon atom in the structure is bonded covalently with 3 others. Carbon atoms have 6 electrons, meaning their electronic structure is 2,4. To become stable, the carbon atom needs 8 electrons in its outer shell, and covalently bonding with 3 other atoms will only make 7 electrons in its outer shell. This means that the one unbonded electron on every carbon atom is free to float around all of the compound's atoms. Electrons carry charge, so this free electron movement means that the buckminsterfullerene can conduct electricity very well. This, because of its size, makes it very useful in nanotechnology.
The structure of a buckminsterfullerene is a truncated icosahedron made of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons, with a carbon atom at the vertices of each polygon and a bond along each polygon edge. The van der Waals diameter of a C60 molecule is about 1 nanometer (nm). The nucleus to nucleus diameter of a C60 molecule is about 0.71 nm. The C60 molecule has two bond lengths. The 6:6 ring bonds (between two hexagons) can be considered "double bonds" and are shorter than the 6:5 bonds (between a hexagon and a pentagon). Its average bond length is 1.4 angstroms. Each carbon atom in the structure is bonded covalently with 3 others. Carbon atoms have 6 electrons, meaning their electronic structure is 2,4. To become stable, the carbon atom needs 8 electrons in its outer shell, and covalently bonding with 3 other atoms will only make 7 electrons in its outer shell. This means that the one unbonded electron on every carbon atom is free to float around all of the compound's atoms. Electrons carry charge, so this free electron movement means that the buckminsterfullerene can conduct electricity very well. This, because of its size, makes it very useful in nanotechnology.
