LECTURE NOTES ON FULLERENE CHEMISTRY

The fullerenes, hailed as one of the discoveries of the century, have created whole new fields of organic/organometallic chemistry and of physics. Together with the related nanotubes, they hold the promise of providing new materials with novel chemical and solid state properties. The cost of the basic fullerenes is now such that research into them is feasible for very many chemists.This book describes the fundamental aspects of fullerene chemistry. Following brief background on the discovery, basic fullerene nomenclature, and relevant properties (including those of endohedral fullerenes and nanotubes), there are chapters describing the rules governing the addition patterns, and each of the reaction types with representative examples. Leading references are given to key papers describing individual reactions and phenomena.