The idea was quickly rationalised as the basis of an icosohedral symmetry closed cage structure. The geodesic and electronic bonding factors in the structure accounted for the stability of the molecule, and it was named after Buckminster Fuller . Around this time, intense theoretical group theory activity also predicted that C60 should have only four IR active vibrational bands, on account of its icosohedral symmetry. Among other features, the IR spectra showed four discrete bands in close agreement to those proposed for C 60 . A paper published by the group in 1990 followed on from their thin film experiments, and detailed the extraction of a benzene soluble material from the arc-processed graphite.
Fullerenes are closed cage structures.
Each carbon atom is bonded to three others and is sp 2 hybridised. Hexagonal rings are present but pentagonal rings are required for the cage to close. Mass spectrometry has been widely used to study the fullerenes. Fullerenes which are stable or abundant enough to exist in macroscopic quantities have been studied further using a wide range of physical and spectroscopic methods. 6- having been observed, whereas oxidation is irreversible.