Cyclodextrins

Patent Granted Cyclodextrins (sometimes called cycloamyloses) are a family of compounds made up of sugar molecules bound together in a ring (cyclic oligosaccharides). Cyclodextrins are produced from starch by means of enzymatic conversion. They are used in food, pharmaceutical,[1] drug delivery,[2] and chemical industries, as well as agriculture and environmental engineering. Cyclodextrins are composed of 5 or more α-D-glucopyranoside units linked 1->4, as in amylose (a fragment of starch). The 5-membered macrocycle is not natural. Recently, the largest well-characterized cyclodextrin contains 32 1,4-anhydroglucopyranoside units, while as a poorly characterized mixture, at least 150-membered cyclic oligosaccharides are also known.