Carbon Nanomaterials for Bioimaging, Bioanalysis, and Therapy

10 Functionalized Carbon Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery

Naoki Komatsu

Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Japan

10.1 Introduction

Chemical functionalization of nanomaterials is important to control their physical properties [1, 2]. Since their applications frequently require the homogeneity in the physical properties of the components, many precise functionalization methods for nanomaterials have been developed in view of their applications from electronics and optics to biomedicine.

Nanomedicine has been attracting growing interest in terms of therapy and diagnosis, or so called theranostics. In the field, nanomaterials play a key role and hence they are chemically functionalized frequently to meet the requirements for the purpose [3]. In the nanomaterial‐based drug delivery system (DDS), for example, the following functions are required: the nanodrug has to disperse well in the blood to avoid embolism; circulate throughout the body to avoid leaking from the pores in the blood vessel and trapping in the reticuloendothelial system; accumulate in the targeting organ or tissue; and finally, release the loaded drug.

Among the nanomaterials in the DDS, carbon nanomaterials have the following characteristic properties: (i) basically inert, but functionizable at the functional groups such as carboxylic and hydroxyl ones on the surface, edge, and defect through organic transformation; (ii) variety of options in terms of shapes including ...