Selectively functionalized cyclodextrins and their metal complexes. Chemical Society Reviews

This crit. review is a report of recent applications concerning the CD derivs. and their metal complexes. Cyclodextrins (CDs) are cyclic oligomers of .alpha.-1,4-linked d-glucopyranose. Due to their unique structure, marked by a chiral and hydrophobic cavity, CDs have been extensively used as chiral selectors and drug delivery systems. The functionalization both improve the CD applications and widen their use in many other fields, such as mol. recognition and enzyme mimicking. Moreover, the functionalization highly increases the metal binding properties of the CDs. The metal ion assists the host-guest interaction often increasing the properties of CDs to act as chiral receptors. Furthermore, it can act as a catalytic center in the mimicking of metalloenzymes based on functionalized CDs (164 refs.).