Buckminsterfullerene (C60 Buckyball) Inhibition of Ethylene Release from Senescing Legume Foliage and Cut Carnations

Abstract

The newly discovered solid form of carbon — C 60 (buckminsterfullerene) when applied either as colloidal solution or in liposomes significantly reduces ethylene evolution from senescing legume [Pisum sativum and Vicia faba] foliage and from cut carnation (Dianthus caiyophyllus)flowers, the liposomes being twice as effective as colloidal solutions. C 60 mode of action is attributed to ethylene adsorption stemming from the interaction between the vast C 60 surface area — 1,317 m²/gr — and the affinity of its carbon atoms for the π component in the ethylene double bond.

This paper was presented jointly at the Neljubov Ethylene Conference in July 1992 in Pushchino, Russia and in August 1992 at the Ethylene Symposium in Agen, France.

The Ethel and David Resnick Chair in Active Oxygen Chemistry.