title: A search for C60 in carbonaceous chondrites.
abstract: Analysis of interior samples of the Murchison meteorite by two routes yielded an upper limit of 2 ppb for its C60 content, as compared to parts per million levels for individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Provided the samples contain an interstellar component, which is probable since Murchison hydrocarbons contain excess deuterium, this result argues against the ubiquitous presence of C60 in the interstellar medium. A possible explanation for the absence of C60 was found in experiments showing how PAHs replace fullerenes as stable end products when hydrogen is present during carbon condensation. As a secondary result we found high molecular weight PAHs in the Murchison and Allende meteorites. Coronene and its methyl derivatives are especially interesting since features in the coronene spectrum have been shown to match some of the unidentified interstellar infrared emission bands.
authors.affiliation: IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA 95120, USA.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: De Vries
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reihs
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Wendt
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Golden
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Hunziker
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003903:Deuterium; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D037741:Fullerenes; D019110:Meteoroids; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D011083:Polycyclic Compounds / Q000032:analysis; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared
chemical_list: D037741:Fullerenes; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D011083:Polycyclic Compounds; D002244:Carbon; C012256:coronene; D003903:Deuterium; C069837:fullerene C60