Arc Synthesis of Silicon‐Doped Heterofullerenes in Plasma at Atmospheric Pressure

For the first time, an arc synthesis at atmospheric pressure was carried out for obtaining silicon‐doped heterofullerenes C52Si8 and C62Si8. These molecules were detected in a pyridine extract from soot by mass spectrometry in amounts of no more than 1%. The abundance ratio of the heterofullerenes is the same as that for C60/C70 mixture. An explanation of the absence of heterofullerenes with lower number of Si atoms is given.