Fullerene
Allotrope of carbon

A fullerene is an allotrope of carbon whose molecules consist of carbon atoms connected to form a closed cage. The molecules may have hollow sphere- and ellipsoid-like forms, tubes, or other shapes. The carbons are usually arranged in 5- and 6-membered rings. The family is named after buckminsterfullerene (C60), which in turn is named after Buckminster Fuller. C60 is also the first discovered and best characterized fullerene. C60 has a hollow sphere-like form, but other fullerenes are known with ellipsoid-like shapes.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fullerene” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.