Platonic hydrocarbons

Platonic hydrocarbons are the molecular representation of platonic solid geometries with vertices replaced by carbon atoms and with edges replaced by chemical bonds. Not all platonic solids have a molecular counterpart:


 * Tetravalent carbon excludes an icosahedron (5 faces meeting at each vertex) as a feasible objective;
 * Angle strain prohibits an octahedron.

The following platonic hydrocarbons, on the other hand, have been synthesised:


 * Tetrahedrane but only with proper substituents;
 * Cubane;
 * Dodecahedrane.

Note that with increasing number of carbon atoms in the frame, the geometry will eventually approximate a sphere. This is ultimately accomplished in fullerene although not a Platonic hydrocarbon itself (Buckminsterfullerene, C60, has the shape of a truncated icosahedron, an Archimedean solid).