Formation of As- and Ge-doped heterofullerenes

Radioactive heterofullerenes As*C₅₉, As*C₆₉(As*=⁷¹As, ⁷²As, ⁷⁴As), ⁶⁹GeC₅₉, and their polymers are detected by using radiochemical and radiochromatographic techniques. This result suggests that a carbon atom in fullerene molecule can easily be substituted with As or Ge by a recoil process following nuclear reactions. Using ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations based on the all-electron mixed-basis approach, we confirmed that the formation of a substitutionally doped heterofullerene with a single As atom is really possible.