A Post-buckminsterfullerene View of Carbon Chemistry

Closed-cage all-carbon molecules referred to as fullerenes were discovered in carbon vapor from laser heating of graphite and subsequently produced in macroscopic quantities by resistive heating of carbon rods. Suggestions that fullerenes may be involved in soot formation, and the detection, in flames, of all-carbon ions having the same masses as fullerenes, have generated much interest in the possible formation of fullerenes in flames. Combustion experiments and chemical analyses will be reported which have been conducted over ranges of flame conditions to determine if fullerenes can be produced in flames and to assess the relationship between fullerenes and soot.