ABSTRACT
Of the carbon clusters, above about C30, the lowest energy structures up to several hundred-carbon atoms appear to be the fullerenes. Fullerenes are carbon cage molecules of definite compositions shaped as spheroidal shells which possess 12 pentagons and an arbitrary number of hexagons, such that the number of carbon atoms (n) is given by n = 20 + 2 h, where h is the number of hexagons in each structure. Polymorphism of alkyl substituted fullerene assemblies was investigated. Alkyl chains were connected to the C60 with one amide and three ester moieties. Carbon nanorings are commonly related to π-conjugated hydrocarbon macrocycle structures such as [n]cycloparaphenylene, [n]cycloparaphenyleneacetylene and its derivatives. Those carbon nanorings that are used as potential supramolecular elements in their own right also serve as well-defined model compounds for studying concave p-supramolecular interactions.
