Stability of carbon clusters CN for 46≤N≤102

Relative binding energies for C-N-2(+)-C-2 have been determined for fullerene ions in the range 46 less than or equal to N less than or equal to 102. The values were derived from metastable fractions observed in a time-of-flight reflectron mass spectrometer. The timescale of the experiments was such that radiative cooling of the fullerene ions did not play an important role thus simplifying the data analysis. The results are compared with previous values of relative dissociation energies for C-2 loss given in the literature. It was found that the relative C-2 dissociation energies for large fullerenes (N > 60) are significantly higher than previously estimated. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.