Flattened fullerenes

Quantum-chemical calculations of giant flattened fullerenes C _n (lentil-shaped) have been carried out. The topology, molecular and electronic structure of these fullerenes have been studied. Such molecules consist of two identical coronenoid fragments of a graphite layer, which are arranged one above the other, and a system of polycondensed five- and six-membered cycles, which form a side surface of the cluster. Polyhedral structures with isolated pentagons of three symmetry types (D _6h ,D _6d , andD _3h ) have been considered. The topology of these structures is described in terms of planar molecular graphs. Electronic structures of eleven flattened lentil-shaped C _n clusters (n = 72–216) have been studied in the π approximation. Most of the considered systems have closed or quasi-closed electron shells (according to Hückel) and rather large energy gaps separating the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied MO, which is indicative of their kinetic stability. Fragments of the potential energy surfaces of the C₇₂ and C₉₆ fullerenes have been studied by the MNDO, AM1, and MNDO/PM3 methods. For the C₉₆ cluster, two local energy minima, which correspond to the lentil-shaped isomers withD _6h andD _6d symmetry, have been determined. As a result of optimization of geometric parameters, it was found that all three methods give close values of heights (H = 6.7 Å) and diameters (D = 9.8 Å) for both isomers. The clusters change to quasi-two-dimensional systems (H«D) with increasing sizes of coronenoid fragments.