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Fullerene stability

One rule for the electron-rich...

A vast number of possible isomers exist for each fullerene, yet few are observed experimentally. Neutral fullerenes typically minimize adjacent pentagons, but charged ones often tolerate them. Now, a simple model taking into account structural strain and π electronic aspects predicts the asymmetric relative stabilities of charged isomers.

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Figure 1: Balancing instability.

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Correspondence to Patrick Fowler.

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Fowler, P. One rule for the electron-rich.... Nature Chem 7, 857–858 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2380

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