Biomedical Applications of Carbon-Based Materials - Biological and Biomedical Coatings - page 127

Other Important Applications of Functionalized Fullerenes
Fullerenes, when functionalized using peptides and amino acids, were found to substan-
tially activate enzymes involved in the oxidative deamination of biogenic amines [143].
The presence of the fullerene-substituted amino acid in a peptide was found to have a
significant effect on the secondary structures and self-assembly properties of peptides as
compared with the native peptide [144]. Work by Gonzalez and coworkers [145] reported
that a fullerene-based material can be successfully targeted to a selected tissue. In addi-
tion, they designed a tissue vectored bis -phosphonate fullerene to target bone tissue and
evaluated in vitro. The whole idea was that an amide bis -phosphonate addend, in conjunc-
tion with multiple hydroxyl groups, conferred a strong affinity towards the calcium phos-
phate mineral hydroxyapatite of bone. Furthermore, functionalized fullerenes are capable
of effectively photoinactivating either or both pathogenic microbial cells and malignant
cancer cells. Mroz and coworkers [146] described that this mechanism involves superoxide
anion as well as singlet oxygen, and under the right conditions, fullerenes have possible
benefits over clinically applied photosensitizers for mediating photodynamic therapy of
certain diseases. Furthermore, Table 3.1 provides a list of references that have investigated
functionalized fullerenes for various other potential biomedical applications.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank the National Science foundation (NSF) for their support: NSF Center for
Nanobiotechnology Research Grant 0734232.
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