ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the different structures of carbon nanomaterials that arise as a result of their hybridization. It devotes to the classification and nomenclature of diamondoids, and the crystal structures of diamondoids. The chapter provides brief comparison between diamondoids and nano-diamonds, and point out their principal analogies and differences. It explains in more detail, compared to the macroscale counterparts, that is, diamond, in nanodiamonds and diamondoids, both the size and surface chemistry impart electronic and magnetic properties. Diamondoids or diamond hydrocarbons are generally defined as “molecules whose arrangement of C atoms allows total or partial superposition on the diamond lattice.” However, this is true for many hydrocarbons that are not typically associated with diamondoids. The chapter examines more in detail the different types of molecular structure that are assigned to diamondoid hydrocarbons. A dualist graph of a diamondoid can be likened to a linear, branched, or closed alkane, that itself can again be superimposed on the diamond lattice.
