FORMATION AND EXTRACTION OF VERY LARGE ALL-CARBON FULLERENES

A series of very large all-carbon fullerenes has been successfully extracted with quinoline from fullerene-rich carbon soot produced by vaporization of graphite with contact arc. The present extracts (black powder) are not soluble in benzene or toluene, which are normally used as extraction solvents for C60 and C70. The fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectra of the so-obtained extracts reveal that the extracts are found to contain very large fullerenes as large as C300. A series of large even-numbered fullerenes C70+2n (90 greater-than-or-equal-to n greater-than-or-equal-to 1) is detected in the FAB mass spectra. The results indicate that these fullerenes are not fragments of very large fullerenes but are actually present in the graphite soot. It is suggested that giant fullerenes (> C300) may also be present in the present quinoline extract.