Cyclodextrins and their pharmaceutical applications

Cyclodextrins were first described by Villiers in 1891. Schardinger laid the foundation of the cyclodextrin chemistry in 1903–1911 and identified both α- and β-cyclodextrin. In the 1930s, Freudenberg identified γ-cyclodextrin and suggested that larger cyclodextrins could exist. Freudenberg and co-workers showed that cyclodextrins were cyclic oligosaccharides formed by glucose units and somewhat later Cramer and co-workers described their ability to form inclusion complexes. By the early 1950s the basic physicochemical characteristics of cyclodextrins had been discovered, including their ability to solubilize and stabilize drugs. The first cyclodextrin-related patent was issued in 1953 to Freudenberg, Cramer and Plieninger. However, pure cyclodextrins that were suitable for pharmaceutical applications did not come available until about 25 years later and at the same time the first cyclodextrin-containing pharmaceutical product was marketed in Japan. Later cyclodextrin-containing products appeared on the European market and in 1997 also in the US. New cyclodextrin-based technologies are constantly being developed and, thus, 100 years after their discovery cyclodextrins are still regarded as novel excipients of unexplored potential.