Carbon dots（CDs） are nanomaterials with low toxicity， excellent optical properties， good stability， and outstanding biocompatibility. However， some medicines have poor water solubility and adverse reactions， which impact people’s life， so CDs synthesised on the basis of medicine as precursors have attracted strong interest due to the advantages of preserving the medicine’s pharmacophore， improving medicine’s solubility and biosafety， and inhibiting the toxic side effects of medicine at high concentrations. This review summarises the current status and application prospects of pharmaceutical CDs， and discusses the types of pharmaceutical CDs precursors， the properties of pharmaceutical CDs， advances in biomedical research， and future perspectives.

carbon dots;medicine;biomedical applications