Fullerenes and Nanodiamonds for Medical Drug Delivery

Abstract

Carbon is a chemical element has the ability of forming long carbonic chain. Due to its special electronic structure, each carbon atom can be linked with another carbon atom or with another element via single, double or triple covalent bonds. The special electronic structure of carbon atom affecting on its properties also affecting on its ability of existing in different forms called allotropes. During few last decades, new carbon-based nanomaterials have been described including fullerene, carbon nanotube, graphene and nanodiamond. These new allotropes attracted the interest of science and industry and became as a new and important class of materials due to its outstanding features which candidate for numerous applications. In parallel with new developments in nanomedicine especially in drug delivery field, the targeted delivery systems became an important to overcome the limitations of the old fashion systems. So, it become very important to translate this idea into reality. Fullerene and nanodiamond have a unique combination of structure, morphology and biological properties that make them as a powerful tools for targeted delivery system. So, this chapter will focus on two major aspects: synthesis routes of fullerenes and nanodiamonds, and their role in nanomedicine as drug delivery systems.