Insertion of Be Atoms inC60Fullerene Cages:Be@C60

Radioactive endohedral {sup 7}Be@C{sub 60} can be detected using radiochemical and radiochromatographic techniques in the final solvent. Such a {sup 7}Be atom can penetrate into the C{sub 60} cage to produce {sup 7}Be@C{sub 60} by a recoil process of the nuclear reactions. An {ital ab} {ital initio} molecular dynamics simulation was carried out to demonstrate that a direct insertion process is really possible. Both the experimental and the theoretical results were consistent with each other. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}