TABLE OF CONTENTS It is well known that the products resulting from the action of the extracellular microbial enzyme cyclodextrin glucosyl transferase(CGTase) (E.C. 2.4.1.19) on starch and its components are cyclic oligosaccharides, composed of ?-(1 ?4)-linked D-glucopyranose unit, i.e., cyclodextrins [1] - [3]. Although cyclodextrins which contain more than nine glucose units are found in the reaction mixture, the so-called ?-, ?-, ?-cyclodextrins with six, seven and eight sugars, respectively, are the most common. These cyclodextrins are commercially available and are industrially useful. Considerable information on preparation, structures, properties and applications has been accumulated to date. Several monographs have recently appeared that review historical and current aspects of cyclodextrin science and technology [4] - [12]. Cyclodextrins are best known for their ability to incorporate a variety of organic compounds into their cavity and for the fact that they exhibit catalytic activity.
Most recently, larger cyclodextrins having degrees of polymerization (dp) up to several hundreds have been found in the reaction mixture of recombinant potato D-enzyme(EC 2.4.1.25) on linear amylose [13]. It has also been reported that ?-, ?- and ?- cyclodextrins are not the major cyclic glucans produced by the initial action of CGTase on amylose [14]. The initial products appear to be cyclodextrins with dps in excess of 60. Crystal structures of large CDs have been reported [15] - [17]. These findings open new fields in cyclodextrin science and will stimulate...
