Orientational disorder and the intermolecular potential of FCC C 60

Careful diffraction studies reveal that the orientational distribution of C ₆₀ molecules in disordered high-temperature FCC fullerene deviates significantly from random. These studies show that the molecular orientational preferences anticipate the low temperature orientationally ordered phase, help explain the orientational glass behavior noted in this material and provide quantitative estimates of the intermolecular orientational forces at work.