Fullerenes: C60's smallest cousin

Buckminsterfullerene, C60, was first synthesized in bulk quantities in 1990, but there is still no detailed appreciation of the mechanism by which the fullerenes and related structures are formed in this process. The newly announced synthesis of C36, which will probably be C60's smallest cousin, gives some clues — it points towards the so-called ‘fullerene road’, rather than the ‘pentagon road’, as the likely route of fullerene growth.