Several in vitro and in vivo studies have suggested that carnosine can act as a scavenger of reactive oxygen species and intracellular proton buffer. On the other hand, carnosinase is a specific peptidase able to destroy the biological active dipeptide. To overcome this constraint, b-cyclodextrin (b-CD) was functionalized with carnosine to give the following new compounds:. Pulse-radiolysis investigation showed that the b-CD derivatives 1 ± 3 are excellent scavengers of OH . radicals. Their activity is not only due to the formation of the stable imidazole-centered radical, but also to the scavenger ability of the glucose moieties of the macrocycle (Scheme). This effect is independent of the disposition of the imidazole ring. In fact, the quenching constant values are similar for the three compounds.Introduction. ± Cyclodextrins (CDs), cyclic oligomers of a-d-glucopyranose, have attracted interest in a variety of contexts [1 ± 7], which include studies of their role in the realization of delivery systems [6 ± 12]. This is also reflected in the increasing number of patents in this field. Drug targeting commonly involves the use of cyclomaltosaccharides as CD inclusion complexes [7 ± 13]. It has been pointed out that the use of CD as a drug carrier may sometimes provide a simple, cheap, and effective strategy to increase drug solubility [6] [7] [12] [13], stability [6] [7] [12] [13], and photostability [14 ± 16] to modulate drug photoreactivity as well as to minimize the photoinduced toxic effects of a drug on biosubstrates [17] [18]. The bio-availability and effectiveness of the drug itself [6] [7] [12] may also be improved, especially in the case of lipophilic drugs. Cyclodextrin complexation has proved promising in stabilizing and increasing the absorption of growth hormones [19], interleukin-2 [19], aspartame [20], albumine [21], g-globuline [21], cyclosporine A [22], calcitonin [23], and insulin [6] [24] [25]. Rapid plasma clearance and problems regarding immunogenicity [6 ± 8] may limit the practical use of peptides or proteins of therapeutic importance. The covalent linkage of bioactive peptides to cyclodextrins has recently been proposed as a means of achieving good results in terms of solubility and reduced catabolism [26 ± 35]. The data reported support an interest in developing the design and investigation of such molecules. Biological peptides such as enkephalin [26] [31], enkephalin analogue DPDPE [33], neuropeptide substance P [30], and gastrin peptides [27] have been grafted onto CDs.