Water-soluble forms of fullerene C60 possess unique physicochemical and biological properties, making them promising candidates for the development of various drugs in the fields of medicine and veterinary science. Of particular interest are studies on the synthesis and characterization of C60 fullerene derivatives with biogenic additives such as amino acids and peptides. This review focuses on different approaches to the synthesis of amino acid derivatives of fullerene C60 and their promising biomedical applications.

Current spectral study of aqueous solutions of N-substituted fullerene C60 mono-derivatives of amino acid potassium salts showed that their solutions obey the Bouguer–Lambert–Beer law. On the basis of circular dichroism data, the optical activity was discovered not only for adducts with chiral amino acids but also for those with achiral molecules.

The search for effective and environmentally friendly plant growth regulators in modern conditions makes it possible to identify and reduce the impact on plant development, its metabolic processes, the biomass of its various parts, and crops. Substances with the least toxicity to living organisms are of particular interest in this field; in particular, these include C60 and C70 fullerenes and their derivatives. This paper describes the impact of both fullerenes themselves and their derivatives on plant growth, yield, and metabolic and morphological changes observed depending on the processing methods, the chemical structure of the derivative, and the amount of substance used for processing.

Water-soluble forms of fullerene C 60 possess unique physicochemical and biological properties, making them promising candidates for the development of various drugs in the fields of medicine and veterinary science. Of particular interest are studies on the synthesis and characterization of C 60 fullerene derivatives with biogenic additives such as amino acids and peptides. This review focuses on different approaches to the synthesis of amino acid derivatives of fullerene C 60 and their promising biomedical applications.

The kinetics of adsorption of salicylic acid from aqueous solutions on microporous granular activated carbon (GAC) was studied. The high adsorption capacity of GAC for this substance was shown. The order of adsorption of salicylic acid and the activation energy of adsorption were determined.

The kinetic characteristics, mechanisms of activity, and relationship between the antioxidant activity and the molecular and supramolecular structure of fullerene C 60 and some of its N -monosubstituted amino acid derivatives have been studied. The introduction of an amino acid substituent in the C 60 fullerene molecule led to an increase in its antiradical activity in the free radical oxidation of a water-soluble target (fluorescein). The mechanism of the antioxidant activity of amino acid derivatives of fullerene is not associated with the hydrogen atom transfer, electron donation, or catalysis of peroxide decomposition. It was demonstrated that the structure of the amino acid substituent does not affect the antiradical properties, which are thus determined only by the effective total surface area of ​​the nanoparticles of the fullerene C 60 derivatives and increase when their size decreases. This surface can be characterized as nanowalls on which the radical death occurs. A change in the concentration of the compounds in solution does not lead to a change in the relative antiradical activity and hence in the nanoparticle size. The results of this study are important for understanding the biological activity of this group of compounds.

Изучена кинетика адсорбции салициловой кислоты на микропористом гранулированном активированном угле (ГАУ) в водной среде. Показана высокая адсорбционная емкость ГАУ по этому веществу. Определены порядок адсорбции салициловой кислоты и энергия активации адсорбции.

The influence of exogenous factors on the selectivity of biotransformation of cholesterol 3β-methyl ether by Mycobacterium sp. was studied. The main product of the microbiological transformation was Δ5-dehydroepiandrosterone 3β-methyl ether. The presence of methyl-β-cyclodextrin in the bacterial growth medium led to a change in the ratio of the reaction products and an increase in the yield of Δ4-androstene-3,17-dione. Aliphatic saturated and unsaturated carboxylic acids were also formed in the course of biotransformation.

Growth-stimulating effects of water-soluble nanoparticles of N-substituted monoamino-acid derivatives of fullerene C60 (L- and D-alanine, L- and D-valine, L- and D-aspartic acid, β-alanine, and γ-aminobutyric and ε-aminocaproic acids in potassium salt form) were investigated. It was found that the nanoparticle size and relative antiradical activity of fullerene derivatives were factors that influence such physiological parameters of field peas as seed germination rate, germination energy, and root growth capacity. It was shown that the relative antiradical activity of nanoparticles in the selected group of compounds was determined by the total surface area of the nanoparticles regardless of the structure of the amino-acid substituent. The possibility of using amino-acid derivatives of fullerene as effective growth stimulating substances has been demonstrated. A dose-dependent effect of N-(monohydrofullerenyl)-D-alanine potassium salt in a concentration range of 10–9–10–11 M on the seed-germination rate and germination energy of field peas has been demonstrated.

Dimeric dipeptide mimetic GK-2 or hexamethylenediamide bis-(N-monosuccinyl-L-glutamyl-L-lysine), which activated TrkA receptors and exhibited neuroprotective activity in vitro (10–5 – 10–9 M) and in vivo (0.05 – 5 mg/kg i.p.), was designed by us earlier based on the beta-turn of the nerve growth factor (NGF) fourth loop. The effect of dimerizing spacer length on the manifestation of neuroprotective activity was studied by synthesizing GK-2 (11 σ-bonds) analogs tetramethylenediamide bis-(N-monosuccinyl-L-glutamyl-Llysine) (GK-2c); pentamethylenediamide bis-(N-monosuccinyl-L-glutamyl-L-lysine) (GK-2b); and trimethylenediamide bis-(N-monosuccinyl-L-glutamyl-L-lysyl-6-aminohexanoic acid) (GK-2a) containing 9, 10, and 22 σ-bonds, respectively, between the lysine Cα-atoms of the dipeptide fragments. Neuroprotective activity was investigated in vitro using HT-22 mouse hippocampal neuronal cell culture under H2O2-induced oxidative stress and showed that the neuroprotective activity as measured by the minimum effective concentration was 104 times less if the distance between the dipeptide fragments increased from 11 to 22 σ-bonds. The neuroprotective activity decreased insignificantly if this distance was decreased from 11 to 10 σ bonds (GK-2b) and disappeared with 9 σ -bonds (GK-2c). Therefore, the hexamethylene spacer was optimal although the distance between the corresponding amino-acid moieties of natural NGF from an x-ray structure analysis was considerably greater at 33 σ-bonds. This contradiction could have arisen because two ionically bound mimetic molecules interacted with TrkA receptors. Another possible explanation was that TrkA molecules could approach closer in the presence of bis-dipeptide GK-2 than NGF.