Host–guest strategy to potently camouflage and restore the activity and toxicity of drugs affecting bacterial growth and viability

Abstract

We demonstrate the application of a controllable drug delivery system, where an active and toxic imidazolium salt can be camouflaged when assembled as an inclusion complex with cyclodextrins. The toxicity can be completely restored in the presence of a competitive non-toxic guest. The reversibility of this system is demonstrated both in living bacteria and human red blood cells.