Synthesis of Folate-Appended β-Cyclodextrin Using Phenanthroline as Linker for Cancer Targeting Drug Delivery

Here we have synthesized cancer targeting drug delivery system that contains β-cyclodextrin as a drug carrier and folic acid as a targeting ligand. Folic acid was selected as a cancer targeting ligand because folic acid receptors are highly expressed in a variety of tumor types. β-cyclodextrin and folic acid were connected through a linker [1,10-phenanthroline or 5-(hydroxymethyl) furfural]. β-cyclodextrin and folic acid were attached to the linker by formation of Schiffbase and ester, respectively. Our targeted synthetic products were confirmed by NMR, Mass and IR spectroscopy. We anticipate that our synthetic products can confer cancer cell-specific drug delivery as well as desired properties such as nanoparticle formation.