Platonic hydrocarbon

Platonic hydrocarbon

Platonic hydrocarbons are the molecular representation of platonic solid geometries with vertices replaced by carbon atoms and with edges replaced by chemical bonds. Not all platonic solids have a molecular counterpart:

* Tetravalent carbon excludes an icosahedron (5 edges meeting at each vertex) as a feasible objective;
* Angle strain prohibits an octahedron. Since 4 edges meet at each corner, there would be no hydrogen atoms, and this hypothetical octahedron molecule would be an allotrope C6 of elemental carbon, not a hydrocarbon.

The following platonic hydrocarbons, on the other hand, have been synthesised:

* Tetrahedrane (C4H4) but only with proper substituents;
* Cubane (C8H8);
* Dodecahedrane (C20H20).

Note that with increasing number of carbon atoms in the frame, the geometry will eventually approximate a sphere. This is ultimately accomplished in fullerene although not a Platonic hydrocarbon itself (Buckminsterfullerene, C60, has the shape of a truncated icosahedron, an Archimedean solid).

References

* Henning Hopf, "Classics in Hydrocarbon Chemistry", Wiley VCH, 2000.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Platonic hydrocarbon — noun Any of several polycyclic cagelike hydrocarbons whose underlying structure of carbon atoms is that of one of the Platonic solids; not all are possible, either due to excessive strain, or to valency considerations …   Wiktionary

  • Platonic — adjective Of or relating to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato or his philosophies. See Also: Plato, Platonically, Platonism, Platonist, Platonistic, Platonic body, Platonic hydrocarbon, Platonic solid …   Wiktionary

  • Platonic solid — noun Any one of the following five polyhedra: the regular tetrahedron, the cube, the regular octahedron, the regular dodecahedron and the regular icosahedro …   Wiktionary

  • Hydrocarbure de Platon — Un hydrocarbure de Platon ou hydrocarbure platonicien est un hydrocarbure dont la structure moléculaire reproduit un solide de Platon dans lequel les sommets sont des atomes de carbone et les arêtes des liaisons chimiques. Tous les solides de… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tetrahedrane — is a platonic hydrocarbon with chemical formula carbon4hydrogen4 and a tetrahedral structure. Extreme angle strain (carbon bond angles deviate considerably from the tetrahedral bond angle of 109.5°) prevents this molecule from forming outside of… …   Wikipedia

  • List of mathematics articles (P) — NOTOC P P = NP problem P adic analysis P adic number P adic order P compact group P group P² irreducible P Laplacian P matrix P rep P value P vector P y method Pacific Journal of Mathematics Package merge algorithm Packed storage matrix Packing… …   Wikipedia

  • Cubane — IUPAC name …   Wikipedia

  • Hidrocarburo platónico — Los hidrocarburos platónicos son la representación molecular de geometrías de sólido platónico, con los vértices reemplazados por átomos de carbono y las aristas reemplazadas por enlaces químicos. No todos los sólidos platónicos tienen su… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Synthetic diamond — Synthetic diamonds of various colors grown by the high pressure high temperature technique Synthetic diamond is diamond produced in a technological process; as opposed to natural diamond, which is created in geological processes. Synthetic… …   Wikipedia

  • Linus Pauling — Infobox Scientist name = Linus Pauling caption = Linus Pauling in 1954 birth date = birth date|1901|2|28|df=y birth place = Portland, Oregon, USA residence = United States nationality = United States death date = death date and… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”