Recent Advances of Water-Soluble Fullerene Derivatives in Biomedical Applications

Fullerenes, especially C60, exhibit great potential applications in biology field, due to their excellent antibacterial, antiviral, antitumor and other properties. Many water-soluble fullerene derivatives have been designed, synthesized and used as photo-dynamic therapy agents, antiviral agents, bioimaging agents, drug carriers and so on. This review focuses on the usage of water-soluble fullerene derivatives in biomedical field in recent years. The first half gives the preparation of water-soluble fullerene derivatives themselves with covalent bonds and non-covalent bonds. In the second half, myriad applications of water-soluble fullerene derivatives in biomedical field are introduced.