Continuous Symmetry and Chirality Measures for Fullerenes

Abstract

Usually the symmetry of a given molecule is described with the help of a point group. Here we present a method where the symmetry is characterized by a function from the range [0,1] to the set of point groups. Using this function we measured the molecular symmetries and chiralities for the fullerenes C20 : 1, C24 : 1, C26 : 1, C28 : 1 and C28 : 2.