Following the Trace of Cyclodextrins on the Selenium and Tellurium Odyssey

Abstract

There is an urgent need to develop safer and more effective modalities for the treatment of numerous pathologies due to the increasing rates of drug resistance, undesired side effects, poor clinical outcomes, etc. Over the past decades, cyclodextrins (CDs) have gathered great attention as potential drug carriers due to their ability to enhance their bioactivities and properties. Likewise, selenium (Se) and tellurium (Te) have been extensively studied during the last decades due to their possible therapeutical applications. Although there is limited research on the relationship between Se and Te and CDs, herein, we highlight different representative examples of the advances related to this topic as well as give our view on the future directions of this emerging area of research. This review encompasses three different aspects of this relationship: (1) modification of the structure of the different CDs; (2) formation of host–guest interaction complexes of naïve CDs with Se and Te derivatives in order to overcome specific limitations of the latter; and (3) the use of CDs as catalysts to achieve novel Se and Te compounds.