Carbyne

carbyne doublet configuration
doublet (1 radical, 1 pair, 1 vacant orbital)
carbyne quartet configuration
quartet (3 radicals)

In organic chemistry, a carbyne is a general term for any compound whose structure consists of an electrically neutral carbon atom connected by a single covalent bond and has three non-bonded electrons.[1] The carbon atom has either one or three unpaired electrons, depending on its excitation state; making it a radical. The chemical formula can be written R−C· or R−C (also written as ⫶C−R), or just CH.

Carbynes can be seen as derivatives of the simplest such compound, the methylidyne radical or unsubstituted carbyne H−C· or H−C, in which the functional group is a hydrogen atom.

Reported for the first time back in 1967 by Kasatochkin, carbyne is an infinite sp1 hybridized long linear chain of carbon, where each link is just a single carbon atom.[2]

  1. ^ IUPAC, Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book") (1997). Online corrected version: (2006–) "carbynes". doi:10.1351/goldbook.C00854
  2. ^ KASATOCHKIN, VI; VV, KORSHAK; YP, KUDRYAVTSEV; AM, SLADKOV; IE, STERENBERG (1973). "ON CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE OF CARBYNE". On Crystalline Structure of Carbyne.