RECENT ASPECTS OF THE FUNCTIONALIZATION CHEMISTRY OF BUCKMINSTERFULLERENE (C60): PREPARATION OF NEW MATERIALS AND COMPOUNDS OF BIOLOGICAL INTEREST

摘要

The unexpected and phenomenal discovery of the existence of fuUerenes has initiated a multi-disciplinary research effort in the chemical sciences of proportions that have not often been seen this century.1'2'3 The demonstration of the existence of a molecular form of carbon was made in 1990 when Cgo and C70 were isolated from the carbon soot prepared by resistive evaporation of graphite under a partial helium atmosphere.4'5 This discovery rapidly led to a number of unexpected results on the physical and chemical properties of C6o-Among the highlights of these discoveries are the superconductivity of alkaline metal salts of C6o3~ and the chemical properties related to the electron affinity of this intriguing spherical polyene.6-7 Now that the initial excitement has somewhat leveled off, there is a good opportunity to reflect on the hopes raised at the beginning of the fullerene era and on the future of fullerene research. The outlook seems very positive, even though the results appearing in the recent literature do not generate as much press as the ones seen at the beginning. The initial enthusiastic conjectures on the potential applications of fuUerenes have been confronted with the slow pace and realities of scientific research. However, many exciting results have appeared recently on the preparation of novel materials and compounds of biological interest. Buckytubes are the most prominent examples of the possibilities raised in materials science and molecular computing. It seems clear that there is a strong need to pursue long-term research efforts and further develop the chemistry and physics of fuUerenes in the search of new compounds with desired physical properties (NLO, ferromagnetism, conductors) or biological activity (photodynamic therapy, HIV-protease inhibition). There are still some major stumbling blocks in finding applications for C^q among which is the relative difficulty in controlling its chemical reactivity and die high cost of fullerene production. However, the latter problem is mostly technical and increased demand should make fuUerenes cost-competitive.