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Electrical and Magnetic Properties of β-Carotene Triiodide

Nature volume 186, pages 552–553 (1960)Cite this article

Abstract

CHARGE–TRANSFER complexes formed between iodine and condensed ring aromatic hydrocarbons have been studied in some detail recently, most extensively by Akamatu, Inokuchi, Matsunaga and their co-workers1. We should like here to point out that iodine also reacts with β-carotene, a non-aromatic hydrocarbon containing eleven conjugated double bonds, to form a compound exhibiting electrical and magnetic properties similar to those of iodine-aromatic charge–transfer complexes. The stoichiometric formula of this compound is C40H56I3; that is, it contains three iodine atoms per β-carotene molecule.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. General Electric Co., Research Laboratory, Schenectady, New York

    CHARLES M. HUGGINS & OLIVER H. LEBLANC JUN.

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  1. CHARLES M. HUGGINS
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  2. OLIVER H. LEBLANC JUN.
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HUGGINS, C., LEBLANC, O. Electrical and Magnetic Properties of β-Carotene Triiodide. Nature 186, 552–553 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/186552a0

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