Adamantane has unique physical and chemical properties and can be used in many fields such as fine chemical industry and pharmaceutical manufacturing. This paper reviews the possible chemical reactions of adamantane, such as halogenation, hydroxylation, oxidation and nitration. At the same time, the chemical reaction mechanism of adamantane was discussed, which laid the foundation for the deep application of adamantane in fine chemical industry. The derivative of adamantane, amantadine, also known as tricyclic [3,3, 1,13,7] decylamine, is widely used in medicine. It is mainly used for antivirus. Adamantane and its derivatives are mainly used to make various special drugs in medicine. A variety of new drugs with special effects can be synthesized by using the fat solubility of amantadine. For example, amantadine hydrochloride is an antiviral drug, which has been used for a long time in clinic. It can be used to prevent and treat upper respiratory diseases caused by influenza A virus, as well as cerebrovascular diseases and Alzheimer's disease. Adamantane skeleton cephalosporin is a new antibacterial drug, which can improve the drug concentration and absorption in blood, and its pharmacological performance is better than penicillin. The applications of amantadine and amantadine are briefly introduced, and the synthesis methods and characteristics of amantadine are summarized. Many attempts have been made to nitration methods of adamantane, such as clay catalyst, ion exchange resin catalyst, metal oxide and metal salt catalyst, mixed acid nitration of nitrate and sulfur, bromination and so on.