Download or read book Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacological Potential of Fullerenes and Carbon Nanotubes written by Franco Cataldo and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-09-08 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fullerenes and nanotubes are two classes of carbon structures or allotropes, which were discovered about 17 years ago. Since that time, many chemical derivatives have been synthesized using fullerenes and nanotubes as building blocks. Particularly promising was the theory that the chemical properties of fullerenes, and certain derivatives, made them likely candidates for anticancer drugs, inhibitors of viruses such as HIV, or even as anti-bacterials. Their cyctotoxicity can also be controlled by specific circumstances. In addition, the funtionalization of nanotubes has not only produced relatively simple derivatives, but also complex hybrids with biological macromolecules, which show unique supramolecular architecture and which are promising in many medical applications. The application of fullerenes and nanotubes in medicine is at the frontier of our knowledge, thus the work in this field represents the basis for future novel developments.