Chapter 1 - Historical Introduction

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Early synthesis of fullerenes was done using laser ablation of graphite targets in He gas to create fullerenes in the gas phase. An intense laser pulse was used to vaporize material from a graphite surface, thereby creating a hot carbon plasma. This hot plasma was quenched and entrained in a flowing inert gas (e.g., He) to form carbon clusters. The clustering was permitted to occur for 30–200μs, after which the gas stream was allowed to expand and cool, thereby terminating cluster growth. This laser ablation source was coupled to the front end of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer which allowed the mass spectrum of the clusters and molecules formed by the source to be measured. The mass spectrum above 40 carbon atoms shows a prominence for clusters of mass C60. This preponderance of the C60 line in the mass spectra was recognized by Kroto and Smalley at an early stage. By allowing the plasma to react for a longer time, they found that the C60 peak could be enhanced relative to the other peaks.

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