Pillararenes as Promising Carriers for Drug Delivery

Abstract

Since their discovery in 2008 by N. Ogoshi and co-authors, pillararenes (PAs) have become popular hosts for molecular recognition and supramolecular chemistry, as well as other practical applications. The most useful property of these fascinating macrocycles is their ability to accommodate reversibly guest molecules of various kinds, including drugs or drug-like molecules, in their highly ordered rigid cavity. The last two features of pillararenes are widely used in various pillararene-based molecular devices and machines, stimuli-responsive supramolecular/host–guest systems, porous/nonporous materials, organic–inorganic hybrid systems, catalysis, and, finally, drug delivery systems. In this review, the most representative and important results on using pillararenes for drug delivery systems for the last decade are presented.

Keywords

• pillararenes
• host–guest complexes
• aggregates
• antibiotics
• cytotoxic drugs
• insulin