buckminsterfullerene

Buckminsterfullerene, commonly known as the buckyball, is a spherical molecule consisting of 60 carbon atoms with the formula C60. It is the most famous member of the fullerene family, formed by a closed cage of carbon atoms arranged in a truncated icosahedron. This arrangement yields 32 faces (12 pentagons and 20 hexagons), 60 vertices, and 90 edges, and it exhibits high icosahedral symmetry.

The molecule was discovered in 1985 by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley at Rice University during experiments that vaporized graphite and analyzed the resulting carbon clusters. The name buckminsterfullerene honors architect Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes resemble the structure. The discovery earned Kroto, Curl, and Smalley the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996.

C60 is a rigid, hollow carbon cage in which each atom is sp2 hybridized. The compound can form ions and a variety of chemical adducts, and it can act as a host for atoms or small molecules inside the cage (endohedral fullerenes). In solution the molecule is soluble in some organic solvents but not in water, and it participates in a range of functionalization reactions that modify its properties.

Laboratory production of C60 typically uses laser ablation of graphite or electric arc discharge in a carbon-rich environment, followed by purification, often through chromatography. End products include neutral C60 and various fullerene derivatives and salts (fullerides).

Applications of C60 span materials science, organic electronics, and photophysics. Doped fullerene salts have shown interesting electronic properties, including superconductivity in certain alkali-metal fullerides, while functionalized fullerenes serve as building blocks in sensors, photovoltaics, and nanomaterials research.