Page "Fullerene" Paragraph 11

Buckminsterfullerene ( C < sub > 60 </ sub >) was named after Richard Buckminster Fuller, a noted architectural modeler who popularized the geodesic dome.

Since buckminsterfullerenes have a shape similar to that sort of dome, the name was thought appropriate.

As the discovery of the fullerene family came after buckminsterfullerene, the shortened name ' fullerene ' is used to refer to the family of fullerenes.

The suffix “ ene ” indicates that each C atom is covalently bonded to three others ( instead of the maximum of four ), a situation that classically would correspond to the existence of bonds involving two pairs of electrons (“ double bonds ”).