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Buckminsterfullerene

Buckminsterfullerene
Buckminsterfullerene.svg
Buckminsterfullerene-perspective-3D-balls.png
Names
IUPAC name
(C60-Ih)[5,6]fullerene
Other names
Buckyball; Fullerene-C60; [60]fullerene
Identifiers
99685-96-8 YesY
3D model (Jmol) Interactive image
5901022
ChEBI CHEBI:33128 YesY
ChemSpider 110185 YesY
ECHA InfoCard 100.156.884
PubChem 123591
Properties
C60
Molar mass 720.66 g·mol−1
Appearance Dark needle-like crystals
Density 1.65 g/cm3
Melting point sublimates at ~ 600 °C (1,112 °F; 873 K)
insoluble in water
Structure
Face-centered cubic, cF1924
Fm3m, No. 225
a = 1.4154 nm
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
YesY  (what is YesYN ?)
Infobox references

Buckminsterfullerene (or bucky-ball) is a spherical fullerene molecule with the formula C60. It has a cage-like fused-ring structure (truncated icosahedron) which resembles a soccer ball (football), made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons, with a carbon atom at each vertex of each polygon and a bond along each polygon edge.

It was first generated in 1985 by Harold Kroto, James R. Heath, Sean O'Brien, Robert Curl, and 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 a reference to Buckminster Fuller, as C60 resembles his trademark geodesic domes. Buckminsterfullerene is the most common naturally occurring fullerene molecule, as it can be found in small quantities in soot. Solid and gaseous forms of the molecule have been detected in deep space.

Buckminsterfullerene is one of the largest objects to have been shown to exhibit wave–particle duality; as stated in the theory every object exhibits this behavior. Its discovery led to the exploration of a new field of chemistry, involving the study of fullerenes.

Buckminsterfullerene derives from the name of the noted futurist and inventor Buckminster Fuller. One of his designs of a geodesic dome structure bears great resemblance to C60; as a result, the discoverers of the allotrope named the newfound molecule after him. The general public, however, sometimes refers to buckminsterfullerene, and even Fuller's dome structure, as buckyballs.


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