Nanomedicine: Fullerene and carbon nanotube biology

Nanotechnology is the focus of major government research initiatives worldwide, for example in the USA - the National Nanotechnology Initiative (www.nano.gov) [I]. It has been recognized that fullerenes and carbon nanotubes are one of the key building blocks for nanoscale materials [2]. Considering the especially rich chemistry of C-60 and its I nm dimensions (Figure 1A), one expects that applications of these nanoscale materials to medicine should be possible [3a,b]. This chapter provides an overview of the field of fullerene and carbon nanotube biology, as well as some details on the most advanced current fullerene pharmaceutical applications; new drugs that may lead to human clinical trials in the very near future, see reviews [4, 5].