Ref: http://physicsweb.org/article/news/8/4/14
Physical chemists in China have made
carbon-50 molecules in the solid state for
the first time. Lan-Sun Zheng and
colleagues at Xiamen University, and
co-workers at the Chinese Academy of
Sciences in Beijing and Wuhan, prepared
the molecules - which they describe as a
long sought little sister of carbon-60 - in an
arc-discharge technique involving chlorine.
The result will allow scientists to study the
properties of carbon-50 with a view to
exploiting its unusual properties. The
method developed by the Chinese team
also opens the way to making other small,
cage-like carbon molecules or "fullerenes"
(S-Y Xie et al. 2004 Science 304 699).
See: http://physicsweb.org/article/news/8/4/14
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