Cyclodextrins are cage-shaped molecules having the remarkable ability to trap smaller compounds, and have thus led to applications in many disciplines such as medicine to increase the bioavailability of hydrophobic drugs. This historical review summarizes the outstanding contribution of the late Professor Benito Casu to cyclodextrin research and, more generally, to the chemistry and biochemistry of linear and cyclic oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, glycosaminoglycans, and heparin. Professor Casu was the first to elucidate the structure and conformations of cyclodextrins by infrared spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In particular, he showed that trapped compounds induced a shift of H peaks in NMR due to the shielding effect of cyclodextrins. He also demonstrated that the d-glucopyranose cyclodextrin units are in the C-1 chair conformation by analyzing α-cyclodextrin by NMR in dimethylsulfoxide-d₆.

环糊精是笼形分子，具有捕获较小化合物的显着能力，因此已在医学等许多学科中得到应用，以提高疏水性药物的生物利用度。这篇历史回顾总结了已故 Benito Casu 教授对环糊精研究的杰出贡献，更广泛地说，是对线性和环状寡糖、多糖、糖胺聚糖和肝素的化学和生物化学的杰出贡献。Casu教授是第一个通过红外光谱和质子核磁共振（NMR）阐明环糊精的结构和构象的人。特别是，他表明，由于环糊精的屏蔽作用，被捕获的化合物会引起 NMR 中 H 峰的移动。他还证明了d_{通过NMR在二甲基亚砜-d 6}中分析α-环糊精，-吡喃葡萄糖环糊精单元处于C-1椅子构象。