A search for hydrogenated fullerenes in fullerene-containing planetary
  nebulae
  Detections of C60 and C70 fullerenes in planetary nebulae (PNe) of the
Magellanic Clouds and of our own Galaxy have raised the idea that other forms
of carbon such as hydrogenated fullerenes (fulleranes like C60H36 and C60H18),
buckyonions, and carbon nanotubes, may be widespread in the Universe. Here we
present VLT/ISAAC spectra (R ~600) in the 2.9-4.1 microns spectral region for
the Galactic PNe Tc 1 and M 1-20, which have been used to search for
fullerene-based molecules in their fullerene-rich circumstellar environments.
We report the non-detection of the most intense infrared bands of several
fulleranes around ~3.4-3.6 microns in both PNe. We conclude that if fulleranes
are present in the fullerene-containing circumstellar environments of these
PNe, then they seem to be by far less abundant than C60 and C70. Our
non-detections together with the (tentative) fulleranes detection in the
proto-PN IRAS 01005+7910 suggest that fulleranes may be formed in the short
transition phase between AGB stars and PNe but they are quickly destroyed by
the UV radiation field from the central star.
