cyclodextrins are primarily used to enhance the aqueous solubility and
stability of drug molecules and they can be chemically modified to display functional
groups on their primary or secondary rim. It belongs to the cyclic polymers (α-1,4) -
linked oligosaccharides of α-glucopyranose units with hydrophobic inner core and
hydrophilic outer surface. This combination of functionality and guest binding ability
makes Cyclodextrin is an important scaffold to design functional supramolecular
systems. Due to its structural characteristics, it can interact with appropriately sized
drug molecules to form an inclusion complex. Inclusion into the Cyclodextrin’s cavity
alters the physicochemical properties of an included compound, especially on
increasing its dissolution rate and sometimes in increasing the drug inhibition rate.
Structural factors raise favor for this non-covalent inclusion complex and offer a
variety of pharmaceutical applications that may be used in many industrial products.
The negligible cytotoxic effects of cyclodextrin are an important attribute in
applications such as drug carriers, food and flavors, cosmetics, packing, textiles,
separation processes, environment protection, fermentation, and catalysis. Through this
chapter, we aimed to summarize Cyclodextrin’s applications in drug delivery research
through experimental and computational findings. In addition, we tried to present the
highlights of various techniques of inclusion complex formations, mechanism of
delivery systems and their analytical methods.
Keywords: Drug Delivery, Drug, Drug-Polymer Interactions, Drug Carriers, β-
Cyclodextrin, Inclusion Complex, SEM, TEM.
