W. Weltner, Jr., R.J. Van Zee, "Carbon molecules, ions, and clusters," Chemical Reviews, 89, 1713-47, December 1989.
William Weltner, Jr. (University of Florida, Gainesville): "Carbon molecules are of particular interest to a number of researchers, from those in hydrocarbon combustion studying soot formation to astrophysicists studying the atmospheres of cool stars. Furthermore, cluster research is a `hot' field. And what could be of more basic interest than carbon! Pure carbon species, Cn (where n denotes the number of carbon atoms), exhibit a broad range of fascinating structural and electronic properties. Also, carbon is a light enough element so that theoretical calculations may be capable of predicting these properties. Perhaps this review has helped to inspire researchers to extend the series to larger n, as appears to be the case with the recent observations of C4, C5, C7, and C9--some in stellar atmospheres. The most celebrated polycarbon is the ultrastable cluster ...
