Which molecule has the formula C60 and is shaped like a truncated icosahedron?

The molecule with formula C60 shaped like a truncated icosahedron is buckminsterfullerene.

Buckminsterfullerene is a cage-like allotrope of carbon, commonly nicknamed a “buckyball.” Its 60 carbon atoms occupy the vertices of a structure containing 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons, resembling a classic football. The molecule has 90 edges, representing carbon–carbon bonds in the cage.

The structure was discovered in 1985 by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl, Richard Smalley and colleagues while vaporizing graphite in a helium atmosphere. A strong mass-spectrometry signal at 60 carbon atoms pointed to an unusually stable molecule. The name honors architect Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes suggested a visual comparison.

A common mix-up is confusing buckminsterfullerene with graphene. Graphene is a flat, sheet-like carbon structure, while buckminsterfullerene is a closed, three-dimensional molecule. Coronene is also a fused carbon compound, but it is not C60 or a truncated icosahedron. Kroto, Curl and Smalley received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of fullerenes.