Review: A History of Cyclodextrins

Cyclodextrins (CD) are synthetic substances obtained from the enzymatic degradation of one of the most essential polysaccharides, starch. CDs belong to the family of cage molecules; that is, the core of their structure is composed of a dimensionally stable hydrophobic cavity that can trap or encapsulate other molecules. Villiers concluded that the properties of these particular dextrins were very clearly different from those of the various saccharides known at the time. Nevertheless, he did not pursue research into CDs, preferring to focus on alkaloids. The major discovery of Schardinger was to isolate the microorganism able to synthesize the enzyme that catalyzes the degradation of starch into cyclodextrins. This was identified a few years later as cyclodextrin glucosyltransferase, which more exactly attacked amylose, the linear component of starch. It can be noted that even today the most frequently used source of enzyme for the production of CDs is Bacillus macerans.