Fullerene C60

Fullerenes have appealing photo, electrochemical, and physical properties, which can be exploited in numerous biomedical applications. They fit into hydrophobic cavities of e.g. HIV protease, serve as radical scavenger and antioxidant, and can be utilized as nano carrier for gene and drug delivery. Fullerenes can be excited by photoirradiation and can transfer their energy in the presence of oxygen yielding singlet oxygen. The availability of fullerenes carrying functional groups on their surface makes it easy to load them with both small compounds and large biomolecules and create conjugates with PEGs, dendritic structures, self immolative linkers, or other more sophisticated constructs.