Nanoencapsulation of [60] fullerene by a novel sugar-based polymer

Application of carbon nanostructures in biomedicine: realities, difficulties, prospects

The review systematizes data on the wide possibilities of practical application of carbon nanostructures. Much attention is paid to the use of carbon nanomaterials in medicine for the visualization of tumors during surgical interventions, in the creation of cosmetics, as well as in agriculture in the creation of fertilizers. Additionally, we demonstrate trends in research in the field of carbon nanomaterials with a view to elaborating targeted drug delivery systems. We also show the creation of nanosized medicinal substances and diagnostic systems, and the production of new biomaterials. A separate section is devoted to the difficulties in studying carbon nanomaterials. The review is intended for a wide range of readers, as well as for experts in the field of nanotechnology and nanomedicine.

Multivalent glycoconjugate syntheses and applications using aromatic scaffolds

Glycan-protein interactions are of utmost importance in several biological phenomena. Although the variety of carbohydrate residues in mammalian cells is limited to less than a dozen different sugars, their spatial topographical presentation in what is now associated as the "glycocodes" provides the fundamental keys for specific and high affinity "lock-in" recognition events associated with a wide range of pathologies. Toward deciphering our understanding of these glycocodes, chemists have developed new creative tools that included dendrimer chemistry in order to provide monodisperse multivalent glycoconjugates. This review provides a survey of the numerous aromatic architectures generated for the multivalent presentation of relevant carbohydrates using covalent attachment or supramolecular self-assemblies. The basic concepts toward their controlled syntheses will be described using modern synthetic procedures with a particular emphasis on powerful organometallic methodologies. The large variety of dendritic aromatic scaffolds, together with a brief survey of their unique biophysical and biological properties will be critically reviewed. The distinctiveness of the resulting multivalent glycoarchitectures, encompassing glycoclusters, glycodendrimers and molecularly defined self-assemblies, in forming well organized cross-linked lattices with multivalent carbohydrate binding proteins (lectins) together with their photophysical, medical, and imaging properties will also be briefly highlighted. The topic will be presented in increasing order of aromatic backbone complexities and will end with fullerenes together with self-assembled nanostructures, thus complementing the various scaffolds described in this special thematic issue dedicated to multivalent glycoscience.

The self-assembly and aqueous solubilization of [60]fullerene with disaccharides

Solubilization of [60]fullerene in water by complexation with disaccharides in mixed homogeneous solvent system, is described for the first time. The complexation of extremely water-insoluble [60]fullerene dissolved in non-polar solvent toluene and extremely water-soluble disaccharides dissolved in polar solvent DMSO resulted in an unique self-assembled highly crystalline water-soluble [60]fullerene-disaccharide complex. The interaction between [60]fullerene and disaccharides was found to be non-covalent and were characterized by FTIR, UV-Vis, NMR, XRD, and thermogravimetric analysis. The particle size of the lactose-C(60) complex was found to be monodisperse ~60 nm from Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and matched with the size obtained from Static Light Scattering (SLS). Preliminary studies of radical scavenging on the most stable free radical 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DDPH) suggested that complex has potential biological applications.