1.1. THE DISCOVERY OF CARBYNE Yu.P. KUDRYA VTSEV A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute ofOrganoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117813 Moscow, Russia Abstract - The history of the discovery of carbyne is briefly recalled. The existence of carbyne was first disclosed by Russian researchers in 1960. It was obtained for the first time via oxidative dehydropolycondensation of acetylene based on the Glaser coupling of ethynyl compounds. 1. Introduction The polymeric nature of carbon was first pointed out by Mendeleev. He wrote: "The molecules of coal, graphite, and diamond are very complicated,...