ROS generation by photoexcited fullerenes

Yoko Yamakoshi / ETH Zurich, Switzerland

June 15, 2023

Introduction

Following the discovery of C60 in 1985, photoinduced reactions by fullerenes have been continuously studied since the early 1990s. Important properties of fullerenes as photosensitizers include a relatively long excitation wavelength and efficient generation of reactive oxygen species. Coupled with the lack of reported toxicity of C60 in mammalians in the absence of light, these properties render fullerenes suitable as photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy. To be able to use C60 in biological systems, several approaches were developed to prepare water-soluble fullerene complexes or derivatives thereof. In this talk, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of C60, C70, and M3N@C80 for the preparation of water-soluble fullerene derivatives, the use of these compounds for reactive oxygen species generation, and applications of these systems will be discussed.

Yoko Yamakoshi

obtained her B.Sc. (1989) and M.Sc. (1991) from Ochanomizu University and her Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo (1999, examiner: Prof. Tetsuo Nagano). Subsequently, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Prof. François Diederich at ETH Zurich (1999–2001, JST Overseas Fellowship). She got tenured as Research Chemist in the National Institute of Health Sciences (Japan) from 1991–2001 and as Senior Research Chemist from 2002–2003. Then, she moved to the USA to work as Associate Researcher at UC Santa Barbara (2004–2007) and as Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (2007–2010). Finally, she returned to Zurich and since 2014, she is Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zurich.