Fullerenes and their applications

Abstract

Abstract Fullerenes, the third allotropic form of carbon, have attracted considerable attention since they were first observed in 1985 and have been widely explored in the past three decades. In this chapter, we review the synthetic methods to prepare empty fullerenes as well as endohedral fullerenes; introduce the structural characteristics of fullerenes, including the isolated pentagon rule, topology, and naming according to the spiral algorithm, Stone-Wales transformations; and describe structures that have been characterized to date. In addition, general remarks about the most important aspects of the chemical reactivity, including hydrogenation, halogenation, oxidation, reduction, cycloaddition reactions, and nucleophilic, electrophilic, and radical additions are presented. Applications, such as in medical treatments and photovoltaic devices, are also systematically described.