Structures and stabilities of C36-rings Original Research Article

C36-rings with Dnh symmetries have been investigated using the semi-empirical molecular orbital method (AM1). The ring structures are beneficial to the stability of the C36 systems. An analysis of several factors, such as the change in strain energies due to the distortion of C36 cages, the type of the bonded carbon atoms, the size of retained aromatic domains and the shared pentagon–pentagon double bonds, is given for their contributions to stabilities of the C36-rings. The electronic properties are also discussed and compared with those of C60-rings.