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The Birth of Fullerene Chemistry: Harold W. Kroto Discusses New Lines of Buckyball Research in a Science Watchm Interview

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The Birth of Fullerene Chemistry: Harold W. Kroto Discusses New Lines of Buckyball Research in a Science Watchm Interview Current Comments@ EUGENE GARFIELD INSTITUTE FOB SCIENTIFIC !NFORMATION@ I 3501 MARKET ST, PHILADELPHIA, PA I W04 The Birth of Fullerene Chemistry: Harold W. Kroto Discusses New Lines of Buckyball Research in a Science Watchm Interview Number 37 September 13, 1993 A Star Is Born: Discovering the Third Not surprisingly, buckyballs and the new Form of Carbon field of fullerene chemistry have attracted Last week in the engineering and phys- much attention in the press, For example, ics/chemi stry editions of Currenr Contents@ Science selected the buckyball as its Mol- (C@), we published a Citufion Classic@ ecule of the Year in 1991,6 and the Econo- commentary by Harold W. Kroto, Univer- misf called it (be Renaissance Molecule in sity of Sussex, Brighton, EngIand, on the 1992,7 It was first featured in CC in a 1988 1985 Nature paper describing the discov- essay on the most-cited 1985 chemistry pa- ery of buckminsterfullerene, IZ Working pers.~ with a team of colleagues at Rice Univer- h addition, Kroto was interviewed in sity, Houston, led by Richard E, Smalley, Science WaKh@, ISI@’s newsletter ihat Kroto was interested in learning more about &acks quantitative trends in researches The the interstellar formation of long carbon 1992 interview, reprinted below, focused chains in red giant stars. An unexpected on new directions in fullerene research and result of their effort was the serendipitous its applications in various fields. It is a discovery of a third natural form of car- useful companion piece to Kroto’s Cita- bon—the stable Cm molecule named after tion Classic commentary, ] because both R. Buckminster Fuller for its novel geode- represent “oral histones” or autobiographies sic “soccer ball” structure. of breakthrough research. Interested read- The discovery has turned out to be one ers should also refer to Smalley’s personal of the rare research breakthroughs that fun- account of the discovery in The Sciences. 10 damentally alters conventional scientific In conclusion, it should be noted that wisdom and triggers an explosion of muhi- there is some controversy about who on disciplinary research. It upset centuries-old the research team envisioned the geode- chemical tradition that just two forms of sic spherical structure of buckminster- carbon existed, graphite and diamond. It fullerene. II Kroto and Smalley differ in has since opened up new research areas in their recollections on this point. Such dif- chemistry, physics, materials science, medi- ferences are not unusual in an era of in- cine, and other disciplines. And it shows tensively collaborative research, espe- significant commercial potential for indus- cially when a major scientific break- trial applications as catalysts, lubricants, through is involved. In these instances, bi.gh strength fibers, pharmaceutical magic >ersonal accounts by the authors—such bullets, optical switches, superconductors, is Cifafion Classic commentaries or Sci- etc. Recent laboratory tests also indicate wce Watch interviews—become even that “buckyballs” may inhibit an enzyme nore valuable as a means to tell all sides necessary for the AIDS virus to reproduce.~-~ )f tbe story. 362 RRFERENCIN 1. Kroto H W. Co—the third man. Citation Classicm commentary on Nature 31 t’:162-3, 1985. Current Corrrent&’Rngitreering, Technology & Applied Sciences 24(36) :8-9,6 September 1993 and Current Contems/PhysicaI, Chemical & Earth Science~ 33(36):8-9, 6 September 1993. 2. Kroto H W, Heath J R, O’Brien S C, Curl R F & Smalley R E. Cd buckrninsterfullerene, Nature 318:162-3, 1985. 3. Browne M W. ‘Buckyball’ may block AIDS step. NY Times 3 August 1993, p. C8. 4. Friedman S H, OeCamp D L, Sijbrxma R P, Srdanov G, Wudl F & Kenyon G L. Inhibition of the HIV- I protease by fullerene derivatives mwfel buildlng studies and experimental verification. J. Amer. Chem. Sot. 115(15):6506-9,28 July 1993. 5. Siihesma R, Srdanov G, WudI F, Castoro J A, Wifkins C, Friedman S H, OeCamp D L & Kenyon G L. Synthesis of a fullerene derivative for the inhibition of HIV enzymes. J. Amer. C/rem. SOc. 115(I5):651O-2, 28 July 1993. 6. Crdotta E & Koshland D E. Molecule of the yew. Buckyballs: wide open playing field for chemists. Science 254:1706-9, 1991, 7. The renaissance molecule. Economist 323(7760):91-3,23 May (992. 8. Gafield E. The 1985 chemistry articles most cited in 1985- i987: quantum mechanics, superconductivity, and... Buckrninster Fuller?! Current CiJruerrrs (48):3- 13, 28 November 1988, (Reprinted in: Garffeld E. Essays of an information scientist: science literacy, policy, evaluation, and other essa,w. Philadelphia: JS1 Frcss@, 1990. Vol. 11. p. 383-93. 9. The srarch for carbon in space and the fullerene fallout Science Wamh@ 3( I):3-4, January 1992. 10. Smalley R E. Great bafls of crrrbun-tfre stnry of buckminsterfullerene. The Sc/ence.! 31 (3):22-8, March/APril 1991. 11. Tauftes G. The dkputed bh’th of buckyballs. Science 253:1476-9,27 September 1991. The Search for Carbon in Space and the Fullerene Fallout Few stories in the annals of conternporaty science provide a stronger argument for pursuing jimiamental research than the dis- covery of Cm, In the early 1970s, British chemist and microwave spectroscopist Harry Kroto hatched a research program at the Univer- sity of Sussex, in Brighton, U.K., to seek long chains of carbon in interstellar space. This effort, with David Walton at Sussex and with Takeshi Oka and astronomers at the Canadian National Research Council, in Ottawa, eventually led, during 1975-78, to the detection of several diflerent carbon chains, including HC5N, HCYN, and HCJV. Kroto surmised that these chains were the product of carbon-rich, red-giant stars. “But how did the chains form ?,” he won- dered. A few years later, in 1984, Kroto en- countered a unique instrument-a laser va- Harold W. Kroto porization cluster beam apparatus—in the laboratory of Richard Smalley at Rice Uni- mediately realized that it could be used to versity, in Houston. .%udley and his group simulate the high-temperature conditions had developed this instrument and were us- under which the carbon chains might form ing it for semiconductor research on sili- in stars. In Sep:ember 1985, Kroto, together con and germanium clusters, but Kroto im- with Smal[ey ‘.Ygroup and Robert Curl at 363 Rice, tried to create such conditions and and Molecular Sciences. Kroto was named found much more than they had bargained a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990, and jbr: a stable molecule consisting of exactly last year he was appointed a Royal Society 60 carbon atoms. They suggested that C60 Research Professor. took the form of a closed cage resembling Science Watch recently reached Profi a soccer ball and called the molecule Kroto in the italian A[ps, where he was “buckminsteijidlerene, “ in honor ofthe ar- attending a conference focusing on cluster chitect R, Buckminste r Fuller and /he geo- chemistry. desic structures he had designed which ex- hibit the same fbrm (see Nature, 318:162, SW: It’s an inevitable question, but what 1985; cited 485 times by the end of 1991, do you see as the most promising uses for thus easily qualifying as a citation classic). fullerenes? The suggestion of a ne~v and third form of carbon (besides graphite and diamond) Kroto: Well, it’s true. Most people do ask, was both intriguing and controversial, But “What can C@ be used for?” In fact, there it ivas not a subject of ~cidespread in\’esti- was a question in the House of Lords about gation until late 1990 kchen a team of sci- its potential applications, The answer has entists at the University of A ri:ona, in Tuc- to be, at the moment, that it may have many son, and at the Mar- Planck -[nstitut fur uses, and then again it may turn out to Kernphysik in Heidelberg discovered a have none at all. I suspect that the latter is method for making CbOin bu{k quantities highly unlikely, however. It seems to me (see br>.Y),Close on the heels of the Arizond that the CM field will find and develop its Heidelberg group Has Kroto’s team at the own applications. The situation appears to University of Sussex, which chromotograph- be analogous to the discovery of lasers: it ically purijied Cm for the frrst time and was at least a decade before applications of confirmed its structure in the form of a lasers came along. I think that Cm is or single, elegant I-JCNMR line (see box), will be similar. The chemistry itself is quite As soon as the chemistry community novel, and it presents major challenges. For could obtain enough Cm to explore its prop- example, with benzene there are six pos- erties, fulierene fever spread like wildfire. sible positions, but with buckminster- In short order, physicists found high-tem- fullerene there are 60. So, it’s difficult to perature superconductivity in alkali-doped foresee all the potential of the fullerenes, “buckybal[s.” The study of Cbo and other ful[erenes is the hottest area of science to- I guess I shotdd also say that fundamental day: it accounts for nine of the 23 hottest scientists are not necessarily the best people papers of 1991. All this from a fundamen- to ask about applications. People like my- tal question about the chemistry of stars! self have, in a sense, spent a lifetime avoid- Harold W. Kroto earned his B. SC. in ing applications. chemistry, with Jrst class honors, in 1961 and his Ph.D. in 1964, both from the Uni- We’ re puzzled about interesting things for versity of Shefield, U.K.
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