Two new members have been added to the carbon material family: Professor Xu Wei's team from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Tongji University has successfully synthesized cyclic pure carbon molecular materials consisting of 10 or 14 carbon atoms, respectively, by administering anesthesia and surgery to two molecules. Recently, the international academic journal Nature published this latest research achievement online, titled "Surface Synthesis of Aromatic Cyclic Carbon C10 and C14". This study successfully synthesized two novel carbon molecular materials (carbon allotropes) for the first time, namely aromatic cyclic carbon C10 and C14, and finely characterized their chemical structures. These two synthesized novel carbon structures are expected to be applied in future molecular electronic devices. In the study, the team adopted a different synthesis route from C18, using cyclic carbon oxides as precursors, and innovatively designed two precursor molecules, fully halogenated naphthalene (C10Cl8) and anthracene (C14Cl10). These two molecules were placed on an operating table (sodium chloride film) and anesthetized (frozen in liquid helium at 4.7K). Then, the STM needle tip was used as a surgical knife to perform surgery (atomic manipulation), inducing complete dehalogenation of the two molecules and accompanied by anti Bergmann ring opening reaction. Finally, two aromatic cyclic carbons C10 and C14 were successfully synthesized on the surface. Atomic force microscopy with chemical bond resolution shows that, unlike the previous C18 polyacetylene type structure, both C10 and C14 have cumulative olefin type structures. The team further discovered through theoretical calculations that these two new members of the carbon material family do not have completely identical characteristics. C10 has no bond length alternation at all, while C14, as a transition state from cumulative olefin type C10 to polyacetylene type C18, has a very small bond length alternation that has not yet reached the form of single or triple bonds, and cannot be distinguished experimentally. Xu Wei stated that this research work has promoted the development of the field of cyclic carbon, and the proposed surface synthesis strategy is expected to become a universal method for synthesizing a series of cyclic carbons. Meanwhile, the synthesized cyclic carbon is expected to develop into a new type of semiconductor material and has broad application prospects in molecular electronic devices. (Lai Xin She)
Edit：Hu Sen Ming Responsible editor：Li Xi
Source：people.com.cn
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