Skip to main content

Polyhydroxylated Fullerene

Fullerene is an allotrope of carbon, its structure consists of carbon atoms connected to each other by sigma or pi bonds in order to form a closed or partially closed mash with fused rings of five to seven atoms. The fullerene molecule can comprise many shapes and sizes such as tube, ellipsoid, sphere and etc. Since their discovery in 1980s, fullerene has drawn considerable attention for the subject of intense research, especially in electronics, materials science, and nanotechnology.
Even though fullerenes have remarkable electronic and chemical properties, they have poor solubility in polar solvents such as water. This poor solubility prevents fullerenes’ potential uses in biological applications. Thus, scientific studies have been carried out to improve the solubility of fullerene in polar solvents. The one heavily studied functionalized fullerene is the Polyhydroxylated Fullerene (PHF, also named as Fullerenol or Fullerol) leading to enhanced solubility.
The studies have shown that Polyhydroxylated Fullerene has such a structure that is composed of 60 carbon atoms and hydroxyl groups attached to carbons (-OH). PHF has over 40 hydroxyl groups that gives the material higher water solubility (over 50 mg/mL).
Figure 1: Chemical structure of a polyhydroxylated fullerene (x=12 to 42)
Synthesis of Polyhydroxylated Fullerene
During the synthesis of PHF, firstly nitrogen dioxide radicals which were generated by reaction of sodium nitrite with concentrated HNO3 are added to C60 molecule (Fullerene) and since PHF has high reactivity towards the addition reaction of nitrogen dioxide. The chemical reaction results in polynitro fullerene C60(NO2)n. Then, the hydrolysis of polynitro fullerenes in aqeous NaOH yields to corresponding polyhydroxylated fullerenes (Fullerenols) in moderate overall yields.
Properties of Fullerenols
  • Enhanced solubility in polar solvents especially in water
  • High antioxidant activity due to presence of free radical scavengers
  • Exhibits antimicrobial activity as well
  
Application Areas
Read more about this material:

What is the fullerene?

Polyhydroxylated Fullerenes and Their Applications in Medicine

General Information About Fullerene C60, Also Known As Buckyballs

Fullerene C70 Specifications, History and Potential Applications

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Applications

General Information about Molybdenum Trioxide                                                     Molybdenum trioxide is chemical compound with the formula MoO3. Its chief application is as an oxidation catalyst and as a raw material for the production of molybdenum metal.  Molybdenum Trioxide  is a very light blue powder. Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Their Applications                                                    Like many  nanoparticles/nanopowder , Molybdenum Trioxide nanoparticles/nanopowder are used as catalysts. These catalysis reactions include hydrogenation catalysis and cracking catalysis. Molybdenum Trioxide nanoparticles/  nanopowder are useful for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rundown about Silicon Oxide Wafer

The main insulating material used in micro-technology is Silicon Dioxide, which in chemical symbols is written as SiO2. In semiconductor technology, SiO2 thin film layers are mainly used as dielectric material film in transistors, capacitors (DRAM) or flash-memories. Silicon Oxide Wafers are produced using crystallization, solid state and other ultra-high purification processes such as sublimation. This process forms a cylindrical ingot, which is then sliced and polished to form wafers. Thermal oxide is a kind of "grown" oxide layer, compared to CVD deposited oxide layer, it has a higher uniformity, and higher dielectric strength, it is an excellent dielectric layer as an insulator . In most silicon- based devices, thermal oxide layer play an important role to pacify the silicon surface to act as doping barriers and as surface dielectrics. The simplest way to produce an insulating silicon oxide layers (SiO2) on silicon wafers is to oxidize silicon with oxygen, which ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hydroxyapatite Nanopowders and Their Applications

Hydroxyapatite, is a naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite with the formula Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (OH). Pure hydroxyapatite powder is white. Naturally occurring apatites can, however, also have brown, yellow, or green colorations, comparable to the discolorations of dental fluorosis. Hydroxyapatite Nanopowder/Nanoparticles (50 nm, 99.95+%)  has been widely used as a biocompatible ceramic in many areas of medicine, but mainly for contact with bone tissue, due to its resemblance to mineral bone. In mammals, the skeleton presents a carbonated and partially substituted apatite, based on nanocrystal aggregates, and associated with collagen, building up 3-D structures present in various bone tissue conformations like trabecular or cancellous bone. There has been growing interest in developing bioactive synthetic ceramics that could closely mimic natural apatite characteristics. As mentioned before,  Hydroxyapatite Nanopowder  is the main inorganic constituent of bon...
Post a Comment
Read more