Controlled release from cucurbituril

The unique pumpkin-shape macrocyclic structure with inherent cavities renders cucurbituril (CB) a type of versatile supramolecular container. On account of their good biocompatibility and low toxicity, the applications of CB to encapsulate drug molecules provide promising candidates and the pharmacological activities have been investigated currently. How to control over the uptake and release of the guest at will is significant for practical applications of drug delivery. The noncovalent nature of supramolecular interactions offers variety of options to control the release of guest molecules from CB under external stimuli, including pH, temperature, metal cations, competing guests, light, redox and so on. Moreover, CB containers are capable of assembling into higher ordered supramolecular structures such as polymers, nanoparticles, hydrogels, and colloids, which greatly enrich the scope of CB-type inclusion materials. Those results provide useful principles and guidelines for controlled release from supramolecular containers.