This article is about chains of repeating alkyne units. For other uses of "carbyne", see Carbyne (disambiguation).
Electron micrograph of a linear carbon chain (carbyne) between a carbon lump and Fe electrode, approximately 36 nm wide image [1]
Linear acetylenic carbon (LAC), also known as carbyne or a Linear Carbon Chain (LCC), is an allotrope of carbon that has the chemical structure (−C≡C−)n as a repeat unit, with alternating single and triple bonds.[2][3] It would thus be the ultimate member of the polyyne family.
This polymeric carbyne is of considerable interest to nanotechnology as its Young's modulus is 32.7 TPa – forty times that of diamond;[4] this extraordinary number is, however, based on a novel definition of cross-sectional area that does not correspond to the space occupied by the structure. Carbyne has also been identified in interstellar space; however, its existence in condensed phases has been contested recently, as such chains would crosslink exothermically (and perhaps explosively) if they approached each other.[5]
^Kudryavtsev, Yu P. (1999). "The Discovery of Carbyne". In Heimann, Robert B.; Evsyukov, Sergey E.; Kavan, Ladislav (eds.). Carbyne and Carbynoid Structures. Physics and Chemistry of Materials with Low-Dimensional Structures. Vol. 21. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. pp. 1–6. doi:10.1007/978-94-011-4742-2_1. ISBN0-7923-5323-4.
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Itzhaki, L.; Altus, E.; Basch, H.; Hoz, S. (2005). "Harder than Diamond: Determining the Cross-Sectional Area and Young's Modulus of Molecular Rods". Angewandte Chemie. 117 (45): 7598. Bibcode:2005AngCh.117.7598I. doi:10.1002/ange.200502448. Itzhaki, L.; Altus, E.; Basch, H.; Hoz, S. (2005). "Harder than Diamond: Determining the Cross-Sectional Area and Young's Modulus of Molecular Rods". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 44 (45): 7432–7435. doi:10.1002/anie.200502448. PMID16240306.
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