Diamondoids: Adamantane, Diamantane and Triamantane Practical Uses?
Carbon readily bonds to itself. This unusual characteristic allows the existence of a whole host of hydrocarbons, some of which assume amazing geometric shapes. Cyclopropane (C3H6) looks like an equilateral triangle. Cubane (C8H4) is a cube. In recent years, Bucky balls, graphene sheets and nanotubes have become household topics. Diamondoids Diamondoids are compounds of hydrogen and carbon consisting of cage-like structures that resemble the diamond lattice. Carbon-carbon bond lengths are 1.54 Ångstrom units (1 Å = 10-8 centimeters) in length both for diamond and for diamantane. But the structures themselves are difficult to compare. Please take some time to ponder the unit cell image for diamond and the chemical structures of the first three diamondoids of the series, adamantane (C10H16), diamantane (C14H20), and triamantane (C18H24). Diamondoid to Diamond? Diamond is…