New concepts and applications in macromolecular chemistry of fullerenes

A new classification on the different types of fullerene-containing polymers is presented according to their different properties and applications they exhibit in a variety of fields. Thus, because of their interest and novelty, water soluble and biodegradable C60-polymers are discussed firstly, followed by polyfullerene-based membranes where unprecedented supramolecular structures are presented. The following type of compounds are those involving hybrid materials formed from fullerenes and other components such as silica, DNA and Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) where the most recent advances are shown. A most relevant topic is still that of C60-based Donor-Acceptor (D-A) polymers since their application in photovoltaics is nowadays among the most realistic applications of fullerenes in the so-called molecular electronics. The most relevant aspects in these covalently connected fullerene/polymer, as well as new concepts to improve energy conversion efficiencies are presented. The last topics are related with those supramolecular aspects involving C60-polymer systems and self-assebling of C60-macromolecular structures which open a new scenario for organizing, by means of non-covalent interactions, new supramolecular structures at the nano- and micro-metric scale, in which the combination of the hydrofobicity of fullerenes with the versatility of the non-covalent chemistry afford new and spectacular superstructures.