Classical electrostatic theory and the molecular anisotropy of C70

Abstract

Treating the carbon cage of C₇₀ as a thick prolate spheroidal shell of isotropic dielectric, classical electrostatic theory has been used to develop an analytic model which may be used to determine qualitative trends and semi-quantitative values for the molecular properties of C₇₀ and its endohedral complexes. Anisotropy is predicted in the dipolar response properties of C₇₀ of a magnitude which should be open to experimental observation, and polarisation and Coulombic effects are found to favour the displacement of enclosed ionic and molecular species along the short molecular axis at equilibrium.