Buckyballs
One of the most curious structures in nanotechnology is the
buckyball. It is officially known as
the buckminsterfullerene, a name derived from Richard Buckminster Fuller. He was a famous architect who developed the
first architectural geodesic dome.
A buckyball is actually an entire class of spheres made
entirely from carbon. The carbon
nanotube is actually related to the buckyball since it is also composed
entirely out of carbon. The structure
of a buckyball is slightly different than other carbon-based nanostructures. Again, its basic planar treatment is like a
sheet of graphite. The sheet has many
linked hexagonal rings interspersed with some pentagonal rings that allow for
the spherical shape. The smallest
possible buckyball is the famous C60 molecule that is at the center
of many current investigations in nanotechnology.
Researchers have known about buckyballs and their related
fullerenes since 1960's. In fact, the
Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to its discoverers in 1966. Over the last 40 years, scientists have established
reliable synthesis routes to create large amounts of buckyball powder. Scientific research is still ongoing. So far, we've been able to determine that
buckyballs are not very reactive and thus highly stable. They're also insoluble in most
solvents. For these two reasons,
buckyballs have become the center of attention in the bio-nanotechnology
research front.
That's because buckyballs are hollow in the middle, and can
be used to trap other atoms or molecules.
In this mode, buckyballs could be a potentially hardy delivery method
for drugs inside the body.
Electrically, buckyballs have found use in many areas where
superconductivity or regular conductivity was required, normally in conjunction
with carbon nanotubes.
There are many other uses for these small molecules, but
most are considered highly experimental.
It will be a long time before buckyballs find their way into consumer use.
For one thing, a recent study highlighted potential dangers
of buckyballs dissolved in water. The
researchers found that even at very low concentrations, water with buckyballs
in them could cause serious damage to fish.
Whether or not this will have an impact on current research on drug
delivery with buckyballs remains to be seen.
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