ABSTRACT
Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds (other than simple salts such as carbonates, oxides, and carbides). It is a domain in its own right because of the huge importance of organic compounds in the living world. Until 1985, only three forms (allotropes) of pure carbon were known. These were graphite, diamond and lonsdaleite (which is a diamond with a hexagonal lattice instead of a cubic lattice). Other allotropic forms exist but are less known. In 1985, the discovery of new allotropes of carbon opened a vast field in nanotechnology because of outstanding properties of these new forms of carbon.
