Dalton perspectives. The Post-Buckminsterfullerene graphite horizon

Abstract

The discovery that closed carbon cages form spontaneously suggests that our ideas about the stability of extended carbons such as graphite are not perfect and may need revision. Addressed here are the pre-buckminsterfullerene assumptions about structure-determining factors such as out-of-plane strain which may have been primarily responsible for it being overlooked that non-planar organic chemistry has been under our noses all the time.