Major innovation creates the very first cyclocarbon, a ring of pure carbon atoms

The researchers eventually created an important molecular structure, the cyclocarbon, which had stubbornly evaded chemists' efforts in synthesizing for over 50 years and which could be the key to semiconductor creation at the molecular level. with a variety of scientific and industrial applications.

Scientists synthesize a ring of pure carbon atoms, creating the very first cyclocarbon

For decades, chemists have tried unsuccessfully to create a proposed structure for the carbon molecules that they knew possible, but that proved extremely difficult to create. Whoever came closest to the world had to find evidence of the presence of these structures in the reactive gases, but this prevented them from isolating and reactively confirming them. Researchers at IBM Research and Oxford University have published a new article in the journal Science this week, she announced for the first time the success of creating and imaging this structure, revealing 18 carbon atoms bonded together to form a complete cycle, called cyclocarbon.

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Yoshito Tobe, a chemist from Osaka University in Japan, said that the synthesis of cyclocarbon for the first time was an incredible feat for the IBM and D & # 39; team. Oxford.

"Many scientists, including myself, have tried to capture cyclocarbons and determine their molecular structures, but to no avail," Tobe said.

Carbon is one of the most common elements in the universe and, depending on the carbon structure, carbon atoms can produce different carbon molecules, called allotropes. These different forms of carbon can have different properties, just like any other chemical compound. It is so that one can manufacture clear diamonds with a high level of hardness and sorts of dark, opaque and chalky coal pieces used by artists for sketch work. pure carbon.

The difference lies in the number of other carbon atoms to which a given carbon atom binds in the material. In a diamond, each carbon atom binds to four other carbon atoms around it, while in graphite and graphene, each carbon atom binds to three of its neighbors. Other connections are however possible and chemists have debated the structure of cyclocarbons, theoretical structures that would bind only with two other carbon atoms that could be arranged to create a closed loop or cycle.

To synthesize the cyclocarbon, the research team started with a triangular molecule composed of carbon and oxygen and used electric currents to manipulate its structure, thus eliminating oxygen and oxygen. 39, excess carbon to produce the desired cycle called carbon-18. .

A team of Oxford chemists has prepared the specific carbon and oxygen structure that the IBM research team in Zurich, Switzerland, has modified using electric currents, eliminating atoms as a sculptor. stone in excess to reveal a sculpture below. After many attempts, IBM researchers cut the last of the excess oxygen and carbon atoms revealing the last ring of 18 carbon atoms. "I had never thought of seeing that," said Lorel Scriven, a chemist and member of the Oxford team.

The first tests were performed to describe the properties of carbon 18, one of the great mysteries of the structure. In an encouraging result, carbon 18 appears to be semiconductor, which opens the possibility of using straight carbon chains 18 to create electronic components at the molecular level.