Fullerene

Fullerene (C60) is a soccer-ball-shaped carbon molecule discovered in 1985 (the discovery won a Nobel Prize) and stabilized for cosmetics by Mitsubishi Corporation in the early 2000s under the trade name 'Radical Sponge'. The 'sponge' metaphor is apt: each fullerene molecule can absorb dozens of free radicals before saturating, making it one of the most efficient antioxidants ever characterized. In vitro, fullerene quenches free radicals at roughly 172x the rate of vitamin C per molecule — though the practical skin-level benefit is smaller, because molecule count and penetration matter. Where fullerene genuinely shines versus vitamin C: photostability. Vitamin C oxidizes the moment it sees sunlight; fullerene doesn't. That makes it particularly interesting as a daytime antioxidant, where L-ascorbic acid is a moving target. Japanese luxury skincare — POLA B.A, Dr. Ci:Labo, Astalift, Obagi Japan — has been building formulas around fullerene since 2005. Western brands have been slower to adopt, partly because raw material cost is still high and partly because Western consumers have been trained to ask for vitamin C by name. Evidence rating is a 3 because most clinical work is still in vitro or small Japanese trials; the dermatology consensus is 'promising, well-tolerated, not yet a must-have'.