C₆₀ Dimers Revisited

Abstract

Several dimers: C₁₂₀, C₁₄₀, C₁₃₀ and their oxygen‐containing derivatives as well as some oligomers or polymers of the well known spherical fullerenes have been synthesized so far. Some of the formulas attributed to such compounds represent the first steps in a more complex fate leading to trivalent capped tubulenes. Such a way could even be followed by functionalized fullerenes. A detailed network transformation is given for C₆₀ and its mono‐ and di‐epoxy derivatives. Semiempirical calculations support the presented findings.

Keywords:

• Fullerene dimers
• Topology
• Semiempirical calculations
• Lattice transformation
• Nomenclature

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Romanian Grant CNCSIS 2003 while the work in Karlsruhe is partially supported by the project C3.2 of the Center for Functional Nanostructures of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.