This grant from the Organic Dynamics Program supports the work of Professors Martin Saunders and R. James Cross at Yale University in collaboration with Professor Robert J. Poreda at the University of Rochester to study the encapsulation of noble gases, small organic molecules (methane, carbon oxides), and metals (lithium) within fullerene. Enrichment of C60 with isotopically labeled 3He will be explored for tracer studies and applications for synthetically modified fullerenes. They will also examine naturally occurring fullerenes for encapsulated atoms and molecules. %%% In this project Professors Saunders and Cross in collaboration with Professor Poreda will seek to incorporate atoms and molecules in the fullerene C60 frame. They will improve their method for fullerene doping with larger quantities of isotopically labeled helium for synthetic purposes, for environmental tracer studies, and biomedical applications.
