Playing with the Soccer Ball-an Experimental Introduction to Fullerene Chemistry

Abstract

The molecule of the year 1991, C60 buckminsterfullerene, has found its way to experimental chemistry courses in high schools and universities. For the first time a selection of simple experiments with C60 on high-school and university level are presented: the bromination with Winkler's solution, hydroxylation with an alkaline permanganate solution, cycloadditions of dichlorcarbene and cyclopentadiene and the formation of a molecular complex with o-dimethoxybenzene. They are easy to carry out due to the high reactivity of C60. The experiments demonstrate some chemical properties of this new form of carbon. C60 reacts like a giant alkene with electron acceptor properties. To stress this fact, one should compare C60 with other alkenes and aromatic compounds. The characteristic color change of the C60 solutions during the reactions make them easy to observe, even without spectroscopic methods.