Biological applications of fullerene derivatives: A brief overview

Starting soon after the production of fullerenes in 1990, many efforts have been devoted to the application Of C-60 and its derivatives. In fact, [60] fullerene possesses a variety of interesting biological properties, such as HIV-P inhibition, DNA photocleavage, neuroprotection, apoptosis, etc. Unfo rtunately, the low solubility in biological fluids limits the use of these compounds as new pharmacophores for structure-activity relationship studies in medicinal chemistry. This article briefly summarizes recent studies on the functionalization Of C-60 aimed at increasing water solubility as well as the preliminary studies performed on biological targets. In particular, the HIV-P inhibition, DNA photocleavage and antibacterial activity are disc ussed.