ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of alternative diamondoid synthesis approaches. Namely, we introduce the synthesis of diamondoids based on microplasmas, that is, using electric discharge and pulsed laser plasmas generated in supercritical fluids (SCFs) and at atmospheric pressure. It briefly summarizes the main properties of SCFs and also present a few applications for chemistry and materials processing. While many properties of SCFs are intermediate between those of liquids and gases, this is not true in all cases. In the vicinity of the critical point, the thermal conductivity, specific heat, and compressibility attain a maximum, their values being significantly higher compared to the respective values of the gaseous or liquid states. The creation of plasma reaction fields in SCFs can be achieved both by electric discharges and pulsed laser ablation plasmas, thereby combining the high reactivity of plasmas with SCF-specific characteristics.
