The principles of nonlinear optical limiting properties and the structure of functional materials are described briefly. The specific structure of C₆₀ became pivot in most researching areas. C₆₀ possesses good nonlinear optical limiting properties, while the derivatives of C₆₀ might provide much more better ones, e.g. the macromoleculized fullerenes which contains rapid response time. This article particularly introduces the recent progress on the structure, nonlinear optical properties, principles in the research of C₆₀ and the derivatives.

Key words: C₆₀, derivative, functional material, nonlinear optical limiting property