Citrate appears to control buckyball clumping but environmental conce...(the diameter of the aggregates becomes s...)

Citric acid is well understood as a proxy for other kinds of organic acids, including those within cells. Some of the citrate-based spheres that Vikeslands group discovered are similar to what happens intercellularly when human cells are exposed to C₆₀, he said. We think citrate and other organic acids with a carboxyl group make C₆₀ more water soluble.

Vikesland will present Effects of small molecular weight acids on C₆₀ aggregate formation and transport (ENVR 26) to the Division of Environmental Chemistry at 1:35 p.m. Sunday, April 6, in room 235 of the Morial convention Center. Authors of the paper are Vikesland, civil and environmental engineering Ph.D. student Xiaojun Chang of Luoyang, Henan, China, and masters degree student Laura K. Duncan of Augusta, Ga., and research assistant professor and TEM lab director Joerg R. Jinschek

Future environmental research will be done with simulated subsurface environments using a sand column to determine how these acidified masses move in ground water.

Vikesland will present Changs and his research about how C₆₀ and citric acid interact to the Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry on Wednesday, April 9, at 4:30 p.m. in 225 Morial Convention Center. He will present the results of various imaging analysis, such as atomic force microscopy. We have no answers but we have a hypothesis, still unproven, that there are weak interactions between citrate and individual carbon molecules that cause the spherical shape, Vikesland said.

The Vikesland group is exploring whether the C₆₀-citrate interaction can be used to create reproducible shaped objects. Many fullerene-based products presently require solvents, which are then washed off. Unfortunately, the engineere
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