Stimuli‐Responsive Water‐Soluble Fullerene (C₆₀) Polymeric Systems

Abstract

This review documents the advances in stimuli-responsive water-soluble fullerene (C(60)) polymeric systems. Stimuli-responsive polymers, when grafted onto C(60) impart "smart" and "responsive" characteristics, and these novel materials adopt various morphologies when subjected to external stimuli, such as pH, temperature, and salt. Various synthetic approaches for producing C(60)-polymers are outlined and discussed. The responsive behavior, water solubility, and self-assembly characteristics of these C(60)-polymers make them attractive for applications such as drug delivery, temperature sensors, and personal care.

Fullerene–Ionic‐Liquid Conjugates: A New Class of Hybrid Materials with Unprecedented Properties

“…Most interestingly, 5 a-d display an outstanding solubility in water at room temperature and pH 7 higher than 800 mg mL À1 (0.19-0.21 mol L À1 ) to form solutions that were stable for months; this is probably the highest value of solubility for fullerene derivatives reported so far. [25,26,29] The same concentration could be achieved by dissolving hybrid 6 in methanol.…”

“…The presence of the IL moieties on the fullerene cage affords to these hybrids an excellent solubility in polar solvents such as methanol and water. Although several examples of watersoluble fullerene mono-adducts [25] and polymers [26] have been described so far, only a few water-soluble octahedral hexakisadducts have been reported. [27] This is particularly important given that these easily accessible multicharged molecules might find applications in gene delivery.…”

Photo-responsive carbon nanomaterials functionalized by azobenzene moieties: structures, properties and application

“…Fullerene (C 60 ) exhibits a number of characteristic electronic and photo-physical properties such as electronic, conducting, antioxidant, and magnetic properties, which make it a promising candidate of ultimate electron acceptors commonly used in electron-transfer system for molecular electronic devices. 125 On the basis of special structure and properties, excellent electron donor-acceptor systems are presented by the functionalization of fullerene and azobenzene moieties with the design of chemical structures and the interactions. [126][127][128] This heterojunction system can potentially combine the control of the photo-isomerization and the enhanced quantum effects for molecular switching.…”

Review of chemo‐responsive shape change/memory polymers

“…Chemo‐responsive materials can adapt to surrounding environments, regulate transport of ions and molecules, change chemical or physical properties on external stimuli, or convert chemical signals into optical, electrical, thermal and mechanical signals (Stuart et al , 2010; Wu et al , 2011). These materials are playing an increasingly important part in a diverse range of applications, such as drug delivery, diagnostics, tissue engineering, therapeutics and regenerative medicine, as well as biosensors, microelectromechanical systems, coatings and textiles (Yao and Tam, 2011; Chen et al , 2010; Nandivada et al , 2010). Although chemo‐responsive materials have a number of advantages and their potential applications are expected to be large.…”