What is fullerene what are its main uses?

Fullerene is able to fit inside the hydrophobic cavity of HIV proteases, inhibiting the access of substrates to the catalytic site of enzyme. It can be used as radical scavenger and antioxidant. At the same time, if exposed to light, fullerene can produce singlet oxygen in high quantum yields.

What are the disadvantages of fullerene?

Disadvantages include: (a) highly hydrophobic and prone to aggregation; (b) overall short wavelength absorption; (c) relatively high molecular weight; (d) paradoxically can be anti-oxidants; (e) lack of fluorescence emission for imaging.

What are fullerene derivatives?

Fullerene derivatives are accepted as nanoparticles with several potential biomedical applications. The combination of visible light absorption and a long lifetime of triplet excited state allows fullerenes to act as efficient photosensitizers.

Is fullerene organic or inorganic?

Fullerene chemistry is a field of organic chemistry devoted to the chemical properties of fullerenes. Research in this field is driven by the need to functionalize fullerenes and tune their properties. For example, fullerene is notoriously insoluble and adding a suitable group can enhance solubility.

What is fullerene made of?

Fullerene molecules are made of carbon atoms, and their shapes are as hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Spherical fullerenes are also referred to as bucky balls. They are carbon clusters, whose surface is formed by 12 pentagons and any number of hexagons as shown in Fig.

Why is fullerene an antioxidant?

Due to the free-radical theory of aging, highly active antioxidant activity can be the basis for unique antiaging (geroprotective) properties. Fullerene C60 is known to be able to inactivate hydroxyl radicals by attaching to double bonds [16].

Are fullerenes toxic?

Pristine fullerenes have shown low toxicity and there is probably no risks expected for humans exposed to fullerenes in the workplace under good hygiene conditions. The main concern for consumers is exposure via direct dermal application of fullerenes present in cosmetics.

What could fullerenes be used for in the future?

They could be used for production of novel materials with possible use in medical field. To date, fullerenes and their derivatives are used in few medical applications including for example antiviral activity or drug and gene delivery.

Why is fullerene used in drug delivery?

Major advantages of fullerenes as nanovehicles for drug delivery include the reproducible chemistry of molecules, dimensions at the lower end of the nanoscale, diverse exterior covalent and non-covalent chemistries, and endohedral encapsulation of atoms and ions inside of the closed fullerene carbon cages.

Is fullerene natural or man made?

The research of Dr Andrei Khlobystov into the formation of fullerenes (a manmade form of pure carbon in a shape of hollow balls, also called Bucky balls) from graphite (a naturally occurring form of pure carbon that is comprised of sheets of carbon atoms arranged in regular hexagons) has been published by the …

Are fullerenes natural?

An unusual carbon-rich rock believed to be more than 600 million years old has yielded the first evidence that fullerenes occur in nature. The fullerenes C60 and C70 were discovered in a sample of shungite, a rock of uncertain origin found near the Russian town of Shunga, about 250 miles northeast of St. Petersburg.

What foods contain C60?

C60 isn’t found naturally in any foods. It needs to be created in a lab using specialized equipment. There may be some products with C60 added to them. These would be considered supplements rather than foods.

Is C60 fullerene safe?

Although decades of research suggest that C60 is generally safe for humans and animals, research on the many potential health effects of C60 supplements is still in the early stages.

Where are fullerenes found?

After their discovery, minute quantities of fullerenes were found to be produced in sooty flames, and by lightning discharges in the atmosphere. In 1992, fullerenes were found in a family of mineraloids known as shungites in Karelia, Russia.

How are fullerenes used in real life?

Fullerenes are active molecules. Fullerene molecule can be used as an antioxidant because it can easily react with radicals due to the high affinity of the electron. At the same time, Fullerene is used as an anti-aging and anti-damage agent in the cosmetic sector. Fullerenes are used as antiviral agents.

What Colour is fullerene?

layers of fullerenes are coloured from yellow to yellowish-green. The colour of fullerene solutions is attributed to the pi-pi electron transition (Table 1). …

Why is fullerene slippery?

There are weak intermolecular forces between molecules of buckminsterfullerene. These need little energy to overcome, so buckminsterfullerene is slippery and has a low melting point.

Are fullerenes rare?

While widely studied, fullerenes remain exotic as a class of compounds; C80 is a very rare state of carbon aggregation.