C80

C80 refers to a fullerene, a hollow carbon allotrope composed solely of carbon atoms arranged in a closed cage. The molecule contains 80 carbon atoms and consists of 12 pentagons and 30 hexagons, forming a spherical to slightly ellipsoidal shell about one nanometer in diameter.

Like other fullerenes, C80 exists as several structural isomers, whose exact shapes depend on how the pentagons and hexagons are arranged. Some high-symmetry forms have been identified, but the molecule commonly occurs as multiple cages with different symmetries.

Production and purification: C80 is produced by high-energy carbon vaporization methods, such as electric-arc discharge or laser ablation of graphite in inert gas. The crude soot is subjected to solvent extraction and chromatographic separation, such as high-performance liquid chromatography, to isolate the C80 fraction. Its identity is confirmed by mass spectrometry and spectroscopy.

Reactivity and applications: Fullerenes including C80 can undergo exohedral functionalization and endohedral encapsulation. Derivatives of C80 have been studied for materials science and electronic applications, including organic electronics and photovoltaic research, as well as for fundamental carbon chemistry.

In research literature, C80 is a comparatively less abundant and less studied member of the fullerene family than C60 and C70, but it serves as a model system for studying cage chemistry and fullerene spectroscopy.