Carbon-rich materials: from polyaromatic molecules to fullerenes and other carbon allotropes

• Hiroko Yamada and
• Yoko Yamakoshi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 798–799, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.62

• Hiroko Yamada Yoko Yamakoshi Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich, Zürich CH8093, Switzerland 10.3762/bjoc.21.62 Keywords: carbon allotropes; carbon-rich materials; fullerenes

• ; polyaromatic molecules; In addition to diamond and graphite, traditional carbon allotropes in our old high-school textbook, new types of carbon allotropes, molecular carbons, were discovered in the last decades. These include fullerenes (1985) [1], carbon nanotubes (1991) [2], and graphene (2004) [3]. Due to

Synthesis, structure and π-expansion of tris(4,5-dehydro-2,3:6,7-dibenzotropone)

• Yongming Xiong,
• Xue Lin Ma,
• Shilong Su and
• Qian Miao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1–7, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.1

• schwarzites, a theoretical form of negatively curved carbon allotrope, as shown in Figure 1. Carbon allotropes composed solely of sp²-hybridized carbon atoms can form surfaces that range from flat, like a carpet, to curved, resembling shapes such as bowls or saddles. The shape these surfaces take depends on

• theoretical carbon structures known as carbon schwarzites or Mackay crystals. These names honor A. L. Mackay and H. A. Schwarz for their pioneering contributions. In 1991, Mackay introduced the idea of negatively curved carbon allotropes by incorporating octagons into the graphitic lattice [3]. Earlier, in

Anion–π catalysis on carbon allotropes

• M. Ángeles Gutiérrez López,
• Mei-Ling Tan,
• Giacomo Renno,
• Augustina Jozeliūnaitė,
• J. Jonathan Nué-Martinez,
• Javier Lopez-Andarias,
• Naomi Sakai and
• Stefan Matile

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1881–1894, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.140

• , stands for the stabilization of anionic transition states on π-acidic aromatic surfaces. Anion–π catalysis on carbon allotropes is particularly attractive because high polarizability promises access to really strong anion–π interactions. With these expectations, anion–π catalysis on fullerenes has been

• introduced in 2017, followed by carbon nanotubes in 2019. Consistent with expectations from theory, anion–π catalysis on carbon allotropes generally increases with polarizability. Realized examples reach from enolate addition chemistry to asymmetric Diels–Alder reactions and autocatalytic ether cyclizations

• . Currently, anion–π catalysis on carbon allotropes gains momentum because the combination with electric-field-assisted catalysis promises transformative impact on organic synthesis. Keywords: anion–π interactions; autocatalysis; catalysis; carbon nanotubes; Diels–Alder reactions; electric-field-induced

Carbon nanomaterials

• Anke Krueger

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 1785–1786, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.186

• Keywords: carbon allotropes; carbon nanomaterials; carbon-rich molecules; The era of carbon nanomaterials has started with the first reports on fullerenes and related compounds in the mid-eighties, and a tremendous increase of the research activity in the field has been observed ever since. New classes of

• involving materials science, organic chemistry and physics. Synthetic organic chemistry is a major part of carbon materials chemistry as the rational synthesis of carbon allotropes such as fullerenes and nanotubes and related molecular compounds with and without heteroatoms remains a challenging task. The