The Mechanism of Fullerence Formation

“Next to nothing is known about how fullerenes actually grow and form.” This statement was published in spring. Soon thereafter Bowers et al. published a series of articles that seem to be the light at the end of the tunnel. According to these studies, in graphite vaporization primarily C , clusters form from single C atoms. These species are linear (for C to C ), monocyclic (for C to C ), and planar‐bicyclic cations (for C to about C ); fullerenes are also present above C . The most important new insight is that the mono‐ and bicyclic C species isomerize directly to fullerenes on addition of energy; „cooling”︁ of the „excited”︁ fullerenes takes place by loss of C1, C2, or C3 units.