A chemist at the University of Oregon, Mike Haley, has “supersized” carbon-rich molecules, enabling scientists to test for the first time theories about the many useful properties of synthetic forms of carbon. This story will be the cover story on the Dec. 9 edition of the Journal of Organic Chemistry (JOC) and also on the JOC website.

Many technologically useful properties have been long predicted from unnatural forms of carbon, like the natural forms of carbon which are graphite and diamonds. To observe these properties the carbon has to be a certain size, this is what Haley’s research seeks to prove. Read more here.