Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
The diameter of a C
60
molecule is about 0.00000004 inches (0.0000001
cm). This distance is a
nanometer
(a billionth of a meter), and some
scientists are working on miniature technology, known as nanotech-
nology, on this scale. (Nanotechnology is the subject of chapter 2 in
this topic.) A molecule having a structure that forms a cage, as does the
soccer ball shape of buckminsterfullerene, is inviting to researchers who
would love to insert small molecules such as medicines inside it and use
C
60
to transport and deliver these molecules to inaccessible places in the
human body. These efforts have yet to be successful, but researchers are
continuing to investigate the possibility.
Fullerenes are generally stable molecules, but they do enter into chem-
ical reactions. Researchers have managed to replace some of the carbon
atoms in buckminsterfullerene with other atoms such as nitrogen, mak-
ing molecules such as C
48
N
12
. This molecule has a soccer ball shape but
with 12 nitrogen atoms substituting for carbon. The chemistry of C
48
N
12
is different from an all-carbon structure because nitrogen is more reactive
than carbon—nitrogen is a primary component of many explosive com-
pounds such as trinitrotoluene (TNT) and ammonium nitrate.
Researchers such as Riad Manaa at the Lawrence Livermore Na-
tional Laboratory in California apply the principles of chemistry and
physics to examine the properties of C
48
N
12
as well as molecules that
have not yet been made—but possibly could be, one day. Manaa and his
colleagues are exploring C
48
B
12
, in which boron (B) replaces 12 of the
carbons. C
48
N
12
and C
48
B
12
may interact in a way such that the molecules
together could form fast electronic switches, similar to those used in
computers, except on a molecular scale. The Lawrence Livermore Na-
tional Laboratory is well equipped for studies on such tiny scales, as
described in the sidebar on pages 10 and 11.
Studying new materials occupies much of the time of materials sci-
entists. These materials can include substances that have not yet been
found or made but are theoretically possible, opening up exciting new
avenues in research. Finding and developing these materials then be-
comes the next challenge.
FIndIngTHErIgHTSTuFF
A cook without a recipe topic is forced to experiment—a dash of salt here,
a few onions there, vary the temperature, and then taste the result. In
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