The fullerene structure was first predicted by Professor Eiji Osawa (1) in1970. The first direct observations that fullerenes might exist were made by Smalley and Kroto (2) in 1985, and the first macroscopic synthesis and isolation of fullerenes was by Huffman and Kräschmer in1990 (3). Commercial sales of fullerenes began in late 1990 by MER Corporation. Since the discovery of a synthetic method for fullerene production, this new allotrope of carbon has received more attention than any other scientific substance in history. Fullerene was MOlecule of the Year in 1991, and has stimulated more publications tha nany other scientific subject (4), with a publication appearing on the aberage every thirteen hours during the first few years after the discovery. In spite of the intense scientific investigations being conducted by the world scientific community, no commercial application of fullerenes has currently emerged.
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