An Overview of Supramolecular Platforms Boosting Drug Delivery

Numerous supramolecular platforms inspired by natural self-assembly are exploited as drug delivery systems. The spontaneous arrangement of single building blocks into inorganic and organic structures is determined and controlled by noncovalent forces such as electrostatic interactions, pi-pi interactions, hydrogen bonds, and van der Waals interactions. This review describes the main structures and characteristics of several building blocks used to obtain stable, self-assembling nanostructures tailored for numerous biological applications. Owing to their versatility, biocompatibility, and controllability, these nanostructures find application in diverse fields ranging from drug/gene delivery, theranostics, tissue engineering, and nanoelectronics. Herein, we described the different approaches used to design and functionalize these nanomaterials to obtain selective drug delivery in a specific disease. In particular, the review highlights the efficiency of these supramolecular structures in applications related to infectious diseases and cancer.