Formation of C₆₀by pyrolysis of naphthalene

Taylor, Roger, Langley, G. John, Kroto, Harold W. and Walton, David R.M. (1993) Formation of C₆₀by pyrolysis of naphthalene. Nature, 366, 728-731. (doi:10.1038/366728a0).

Abstract

THE formation of bulk quantities of C₆₀ by arc discharge between carbon electrodes in an atmosphere of helium¹ or argon^2,3 has led to an explosion in fullerene research. Methods for improving the rate of fullerene production have included increasing the reactor size and the diameter of the carbon rods, and varying the rate of rod consumption and helium pressure⁴. Systems using several rods have also been employed^5,6. The ideal method, however, would involve a continuous process that does not require rod replacement. Approaches using carbon granules⁶ and powders⁷ have been reported, as well as combustion methods using hydrocarbons^8,9. Here we report the formation of C₆₀ and C₇₀ by pyrolysis of naphthalene at ∼1,000 Å °C. C₆₀ and C₇₀ are formed by the 'patching together' of six and seven naphthalene molecules respectively, as demonstrated by mass-spectrometric analysis of intermediate products. These results point to a continuous method of fullerene formation, and also show that closed fullerene cages can be built from well defined aromatic fragments.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Author: G. John Langley

Download statistics