Suger-coated pillararenes for drug delivery applications

Supramolecular drug delivery systems (SDDSs) provide a useful platform for smart and functional drug carriers owing to their high selectivity towards various guest molecules and stimulus-responsive properties. Pillar[n]arenes represent a new generation of macrocyclic hosts with unique structures and chemical properties. In recent times pillar[n]arenes have attracted considerable attention as ideal scaffolds for the construction of SDDSs. Since sugar functionalized pillar[n]arenes have good water solubility and excellent biocompatibility, they have been widely applied in supramolecular systems construction, such as nanoparticles, vesicles, and gels by non-covalent interactions, so as to meet the requirements of their applications in biomedicine. These SDDSs present good responsiveness, not only realizing targeted delivery and controllable release of drugs, but also improving drug solubility and reducing its toxic and side effects. Here, according to the different structure of the assembly, the SDDSs constructed by the sugar functionalized pillar[n]arenes are summarized, and the development prospect of the system is prospected.