The 147 symposium papers collected here represent a summary of achievement in this field between 1995 and 1997, with applications in such diverse disciplines as pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, textiles, plastics, and chromatography. Features of the text include: lipophilicity profiles of cyclodextrins by computer molecular graphics; recent toxicological studies on cyclodextrins; Buckminsterfullerene/cyclodextrin complexes; hydroxypropyl-b-cyclodextrin; pharmacokinetics and toxicology; peracylated cyclodextrins as drug carriers; cyclodextrins in nasal drug delivery; textile fibre surface modification by a reactive cyclodextrin; cyclodextrin-containing fabric care products; drug targeting by cyclodextrin-dimers for photodynamic cancer therapy; cyclodextrins in ophthalmologic drugs; and new cyclodextrin derivatives and their potentials.