From Interstellar Dust to Fullerenes

Abstract

During the work in which we attempted to simulate the strong interstellar 217 nm absorption by laboratory produced soot, we noticed UV absorptions which turned out to belong to fullerenes formed along with the soot. This discovery opend the way to produce the fullerene molecules $C_{60}, C_{70}$, and (with a much smaller yield) also larger species in gram quantities. As the most abundant fullerene we obtained the soccerball shaped $C_{60}$ molecule. After extraction from the soot, the fullerenes can be prepared into various ways, e.g. in the form of vapour, amorphous coatings, or crystalline solids, and thus studied in much geater detail than was prevoiusly possible. A status report of our work on the UV and IR spectra of fullerenes will be given.""