In pursuit of nanocarbons

• Published in: Chemical record Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 296 - 305
• Main Author: Shinohara, Hisanori
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY-VCH Verlag 01.06.2012; WILEY‐VCH Verlag; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: carbon nanotubes; fullerenes; metallofullerenes; nanocarbons; nanostructures
• ISSN: 1527-8999; 1528-0691
• DOI: 10.1002/tcr.201100037

With the advent of the Krätschmer‐Huffman historical breakthrough on the macroscopic synthesis of C60 in the late summer of 1990, I decided to stop all my research so far in the area of spectroscopy of gas‐phase molecular microclusters. Since then, my odyssey in and quest for the so‐called nanocarbons started. Thanks to the brand‐new and enchanting world of fullerenes, metallofullerenes, carbon nanotubes and nano‐peapods, I have been able to entertain (and still am entertaining!) “the pleasure of finding things out”, as Richard Feynman once put it in an interview by a BBC television program in 1981. I believe that as long as one has big dreams and lays the groundwork for the dreams, one will achieve them. My quest for nanocarbons is still on its way. DOI 10.1002/tcr.201100037 With the advent of the Krätschmer‐Huffman historical breakthrough on the macroscopic synthesis of C60 in the late summer of 1990, I decided to stop all my research so far in the area of spectroscopy of gas‐phase molecular microclusters. Since then, my odyssey in and quest for the so‐called nanocarbons started. Thanks to the brand‐new and enchanting world of fullerenes, metallofullerenes, carbon nanotubes and nano‐peapods, I have been able to entertain “the pleasure of finding things out”. My quest for nanocarbons is still on its way.