ABSTRACT
Since their discovery at the end of the 19th century, cyclodextrins have become a subject of particular interest in chemical and medical research, food science, the cosmetics industry, and the environment. The glucose subunits are assembled in a hollow truncated cone shape with the hydroxyl groups located at the rims, while the cavity is lined with hydrogen and ether oxygen atoms. The formation of an inclusion complex may improve some properties of the guest molecule, which makes them useful as pharmaceutical excipients, in order to increase the solubility, bioavailability, and stability of the drug. The ability of cyclodextrins to encapsulate lipophilic molecules has been exploited for the development of supramolecular systems based on polymers and nanoparticles, affording multifunctional medical devices with site-specific delivery and controlled drug release. The properties of cyclodextrins make them attractive in gene therapy strategies for the delivery of DNA and RNA fragments.
