Antioxidant Properties of Water-Soluble Fullerene Derivatives

Due to their inherent electronic properties, fullerenes are considered as radical sponges being capable of effectively quenching reactive oxygen species (ROS). The most promising candidates for potential pharmaceutical applications are therefore water-soluble fullerene derivatives, since they provide reasonable biological availability. In light of these considerations, we give an overview over the most recent concepts for designing and synthesizing real water-soluble fullerene compounds. Several studies concerning the quenching activities against ROS-like Superoxide radical anion of some of these novel compounds are reviewed. We finally present first promising investigations about cytoprotective and neuroprotective activities of several carboxyfullerenes in zebrafish embroys as a mammalian model system. By comparing the activities for different addition patterns and other structural changes some first conclusions concerning a structure-function relationship can be drawn.