LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Fullerene
built 645 days ago
Fullerene, well known as buckyball, is ''a carbon molecule'' and has attracted a lot of attention for its unique features. However, high production cost and limited availability have been the main obstacle in the development of the fullerene market. Frontier Carbon Corporation (FCC), which is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation, started production an sales of fullerene in May 2002 with a capacity of 400 kg/year. And in May 2003, FCC increased the capacity by 100-fold, 40 ton/year, to supply fullerene and its derivatives with reasonable prices for commercial use. Fullerene-based products started to emerge in 2003 first in sports industry such as bowling balls and golf-club heads in Japan, both of which are of high performance and have become popular products. In applications including sports, energy, IT devices, and general industrial fields FCC is targeting fast-track development through alliances with customers, and has not only supply pure fullerene but ... provide some fine-tune fullerene and derivatives in some specific end products..
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Fullerene or C60 is soccer-ball-shaped or Ih with 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons. According to Euler's theorem these 12 pentagons are required for closure of the carbon network consisting of n hexagons and C60 is the first stable fullerene because it is the smallest possible to obey this rule. In this structure none of the pentagons make contact with each other. Both C60 and its relative C70 obey this so-called isolated pentagon rule (IPR). The next homologue C84 has 24 IPR isomers of which several are isolated and another 51,568 non-IPR isomers. Non-IPR fullerenes have ... far only been isolated as endohedral fullerenes such as Tb3N@C84 with two fused pentagons at the apex of an egg-shaped cage [4]
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Fullerene chemistry has it roots in research that was being carried out in the field of astronomy. The scientists involved in the discovery of buckminsterfullerene were initially interested in the chemicals present in the dust that surrounds and occurs in between stars.
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Fullerene chemistry involves substituting metal atoms for one or more carbon atoms in the molecule to produce compounds called fullerides. Among these are conducting films of alkali metal-doped fullerenes and superconductors (potassium-doped Tc 18°K, rubidium-doped Tc 30°K). Fullerenes ... have been used to produce tiny diamonds and thin diamond films. Fullerene research is expected to lead to new materials, lubricants, coatings, catalysts, electro-optical devices, and medical applications.
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Fullerene was discovered accidentally during a study of interstellar materials, trace substances in space. Drs. Curl and Smalley of Rice University in the US and Dr. Kroto of the University of Sussex in Great Britain received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this discovery.
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Fullerene derivatives have often been used as effective scavengers for reactive oxygen species (ROS). This study was designed to test whether polyhydroxylated fullerene derivatives [C60(OH)7±2] protect against oxidative stress in cultured RAW 264.7 cells and ischemia-reperfused (IR) lungs. In RAW 264.7 cells, sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 1 mM) and H2O2 (400 µM) caused a marked (90%) decrease in cell viability, and this decrease was dose dependently reversed by pretreatment with C60(OH)7±2 (10–50 µM). The increase in ROS production induced by SNP and H2O2 was significantly suppressed by C60(OH)7±2. Also, the decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential induced by SNP and H2O2 was significantly reversed by C60(OH)7±2. However, high concentration of C60(OH)7±2 (1 and 1.5 mM) lead to cell death (apoptosis or necrosis).
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Fullerene