FULLERENES BY THE TON

MAKE IT AND THEY WILL BUY. This is essentially the busines plan of Frontier Carbon Corp., the world's first company to produce fullerenes in multiton quantities. The nanotechnology sector has been surrounded by much hype. Frontier Carbon represents one of the most tangible attempts at turning the hype into commercial success. At its plant inauguration last month in Kurosaki, Japan, company managers were happy that their facility had been running for two months, but they were also worried about their ability to find buyers. Fullerenes, or buckyballs, are molecular spheres made up of 60 or more carbon atoms. Their discovery earned the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Richard E. Smalley Sir Harold W. Kroto, and Robert F. Curl Jr. The materials have since been the subject of intense interest in academic and commercial circles. Yet few fullerene-containing products have come to market, because the new materials have so far been more expensive than gold, ...