日本科学家发现了圆柱形碳分子,因为它类似于fullerene或“buckyball”,故称为“buckytube”。该圆柱形碳分子象石墨中一样由排列成六角形的碳原子片组成。这种碳原子不象在C_(80)的fullerene中那样形成封闭笼子,而是形成开端圆柱。圆柱形是一种十分独特的晶体结构,并且这种碳六角形围绕螺旋线扭成螺旋形。buckytube包含多达50个同心圆柱。这种螺旋结构在蛋白质、DNA和细菌中是熟知的,但在无机物中只在fullereneC_(75)中曾见到有这种结构。筑波的NEC基础研究实验室的电子显微术专家S.Iijima试图在透射电子显微镜中检验buckyball时发 Japanese scientists discovered cylindrical carbon molecules, because it is similar to fullerene or “buckyball”, so called “buckytube.” The cylindrical carbon molecules, like graphite, consist of hexagonal arrays of carbon atoms. This carbon atom does not form a closed cage as in C_ (80) fullerene but forms a starting cylinder. The cylinder is a very unique crystal structure, and this carbon hexagon is twisted into a spiral around the helix. The buckytube contains up to 50 concentric cylinders. This helical structure is well known in proteins, DNA and bacteria, but this structure has been seen only in fullerene C 75 in inorganic compounds. S.Iijima, an electron microscopy specialist at NEC’s Fundamental Research Laboratory in Tsukuba, attempted to inspect buckyballs in a transmission electron microscope