Diamonds, Indeed

The intriguing report of the formation of a molecular chain with diamond-like subunits (C&EN, Sept. 29, page 7) reminds me of a letter that appeared in an early (1970) issue of the journal Chemistry in Britain—long before the discovery of fullerenes—in which a retired textile chemist speculated on the possibility of ultrastrong carbon threads with a structure based on diamond.

Indeed, he proposed an alternative C₆-precursor to the benzene now used by Thomas C. Fitzgibbons. R. L. Wormell had worked on protein fibers in the Courtaulds research laboratories attached to that company’s viscose facility in Coventry, England. Curiously, back in the 1930s, he had collaborated with another Courtaulds scientist whose family name was Diamond!

M. John Perkins
Gamblesby, England