Proceedings of the International School on Advanced Material Science and Technology 6 th – 9 th September, 2006 – Jesi – Ancona (Italy) – pp. 16 - 35 FULLERENES: PROSPECTS OF MEDICAL APPLICATION AND AGGREGATION BEHAVIOR L. VALKOVA 1 , S. GLIBIN 1 , O. GROMOVA 2 , N. BOROVKOV 3 , O. KOIFMAN 3 , R. SHILYAEV 2 , F. RUSTICHELLI 4 Abstract The article reviews prospects of fullerene C 60 and its derivatives as materials for biomedical application. Basic principles of photodynamic therapy as well as ex- periment data on efficiency of the fullerene hydrocolloid as an anti-cancer agent are given. Neuroprotective effect due to antioxidant properties, inhibition of the HIV-1 protease, antibacterial and antifungal effects are reported. An example of endohedral metallofullerene functionalization is described in particular. Because a biomedical scope of fullerene is limited by such unfavorable properties as homomolecular aggregation and low compatibility with biological liquids, physi- cochemical aspects of biomedical application of fullerenes are discussed. Experi- ment data on aggregation of fullerene in multicomponent liquid systems are given and a mechanism of fullerene aggregation is proposed. 1 Ivanovo state university, Ivanovo, Russia 2 Ivanovo state medical academy, Ivanovo, Russia 3 Institute of Solutions Chemistry, RAS, Ivanovo, Russia 4 Dipartimento di Scienze Applicate ai Sistemi Complessi, Sezione Scienze Fisiche, Universitа Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy