Supramolecular chemistry of carbohydrate clusters with cores having guest binding abilities

This review concentrates on both the protein receptor and guest binding abilities of carbohydrate clusters based on a cyclodextrin core. The combination of both complexation abilities is the basis of one of the pursued approaches for developing site-specific drug delivery systems. Influence on the molecular recognition properties of the number of appended saccharides, the type of carbohydrate clustering and the type of the spacer arms, among other factors, are discussed.