Radical Reactions of Fullerenes: From Synthetic Organic Chemistry to Materials Science and Biology

A chemical review provides a comprehensive survey of the applications that the radical reactivity of fullerenes (C60) has found in various fields ranging from synthetic organic chemistry and material sciences to biomedicine. The latest advances in the field of synthetic organic chemistry have enabled the development of appropriate reaction protocols that allow for selective preparation of structurally diverse monoaddition fullerene adducts or multiadducts, with well-defined addition patterns. These developments have renewed interest in the radical chemistry of fullerenes, particularly in the synthesis of novel architectures with potentially important applications. Fullerenes have also shown to exhibit stronger antioxidant performance than leading antioxidants such as vitamin E.