Fullerene/Talk

What does the phrase does not contain any bordering pentagons mean? Buckyball contains pentagonal carbon rings. And what's the deal with calling them destabilizing--destabilizing compared to what? Are you thinking of the aromatic stabilization of benzene's six-member ring?

According to this, the smallest fullerene known is C₂₀

http://www.slb.com/seed/watch/fullerenes/smallest.htm

Finally, calling C60 the "best known" seems kind of subjective, though it may be true. I think the fact that it might thethe best known or earliest discovered is an interesting comment on the culture of science, perhaps the role of aesthetic imagination and spectroscopic symmetry.

--dja

I changed the text according to most of the above. The comment that neighboring pentagons are destabilizing I left in, though. It means pretty much the opposite of stabilization as applied to benzene, namely that the whole structure is considerably less stable (higher energy) than one would otherwise expect, in this case thanks to bond angle strain. I think this is fairly common usage, but if you think you have a better way of saying the same feel free to change it. -- JG

The clarification about the pentagonal rings not sharing an edge is much better, thank you. The stabilization of benze is attributed to aromaticity, though, which is a concept hard (at least for me) to apply in the context of fullerenes and which, in any case, doesn't seem to be the same thing as bond angle strain. I guess that means I'll have to leave it be, for now. ;-)

--dja

I just meant that stabilization and destabilization are opposing concepts, not that the causes are the same here. You're right, benzene is stabilized by aromaticity, and fullerenes are too. Bond strain is a different effect. --JG :)