Occurrence of natural fullerenes in low grade metamorphosed proterozoic shungite from Karelia, Russia

• Main Authors: Parthasarathy, G., Srinivasan, R., Vairamani, M., Ravikumar, K., Kunwar, A. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier Science 1998
• Subjects: QD Chemistry; karelia*
• Online Access: http://repository.ias.ac.in/55028/; http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016703798002427

We report on the occurrence of fullerenes in Proterozoic shungite (˜2 Ga) from the shungite mine, Kondopoga, Karelia, Russia (62.12°N 34.17°E). The presence of fullerenes has been confirmed by mass spectrometry, with peaks at 360 and 720 amu (atomic mass unit), powder X-ray diffraction showing ten diffraction peaks corresponding to the fullerite structure with a = 1.4201(5) nm, and 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic studies, showing a peak at 143.2 ppm. In the Kondopoga shungite mine, fullerenes occur in silty shales that have experienced greenshist facies metamorphism.