Formation of dimer, trimer, and tetramer of C60 and C70 by γ-ray, charged-particle irradiation, and their HPLC separation

C60 and C70 fullerenes were irradiated by high-energy γ-rays and charged particles. Coalesced products of C60 and C70 have been isolated and detected in the liquid phase by a radiochromatographic technique. It was found that not only 11C radioactive fullerene dimer, trimer, and possibly tetramer were produced by a recoil implantation process following nuclear reaction, but also such non-radioactive coalesced products were produced by the recombination process after ionization by γ-rays or charged particles.