Gas-phase production and photoelectron spectroscopy of the smallest fullerene, C20

Horst Prinzbach (), Andreas Weiler, Peter Landenberger, Fabian Wahl, Jürgen Wörth, Lawrence T. Scott, Marc Gelmont, Daniela Olevano and Bernd v. Issendorff
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Horst Prinzbach: Institut für Organische Chemie und Biochemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Andreas Weiler: Institut für Organische Chemie und Biochemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Peter Landenberger: Institut für Organische Chemie und Biochemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Fabian Wahl: Institut für Organische Chemie und Biochemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Jürgen Wörth: Institut für Organische Chemie und Biochemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Lawrence T. Scott: Boston College Merkert Chemistry Center
Marc Gelmont: Boston College Merkert Chemistry Center
Daniela Olevano: Fakultät für Physik, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Bernd v. Issendorff: Fakultät für Physik, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität

Nature, 2000, vol. 407, issue 6800, 60-63

Abstract: Abstract Fullerenes are graphitic cage structures incorporating exactly twelve pentagons1. The smallest possible fullerene is thus C20, which consists solely of pentagons. But the extreme curvature and reactivity of this structure have led to doubts about its existence and stability. Although theoretical calculations have identified, besides this cage, a bowl and a monocyclic ring isomer as low-energy members of the C20 cluster family2, only ring isomers of C20 have been observed3,4,5,6 so far. Here we show that the cage-structured fullerene C20 can be produced from its perhydrogenated form (dodecahedrane C20H20) by replacing the hydrogen atoms with relatively weakly bound bromine atoms, followed by gas-phase debromination. For comparison we have also produced the bowl isomer of C20 using the same procedure. We characterize the generated C20 clusters using mass-selective anion photoelectron spectroscopy; the observed electron affinities and vibrational structures of these two C20 isomers differ significantly from each other, as well as from those of the known monocyclic isomer. We expect that these unique C20 species will serve as a benchmark test for further theoretical studies.

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35024037

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