ABSTRACT
Cyclodextrins (CDs) are unique molecular complexation agents. They possess a cage-like supramolecular structure, which involves intra-and intermolecular interactions where no covalent bonds are formed between interacting molecules, ions, or radicals. It is mainly a “host-guest” type phenomenon. CDs are de‚nitively the most important supramolecular hosts found in the literature. As a result of molecular complexation, CDs are widely used in many industrial ‚elds (cosmetics, pharmaceutics, bioremediation, etc.) and in analytical chemistry. Their high biocompatibility and negligible cytotoxicity have opened the doors to their uses such as drug excipients and agents for drug-controlled release (Stella and Rajewski 1997, Matsuda and Arima 1999), in food and ‘avors (Mabuchi and Ngoa 2001), cosmetics (Buschmann and Schollmeyer 2002), textiles (Buschmann et al. 2001), environment protection (Baudin et al. 2000), and fermentation and catalysis (Koukiekolo et al. 2001, Kumar et al. 2001).
