AUTHOR=Fagan Andrew , Bartkowski Michał , Giordani Silvia TITLE=Spiropyran-Based Drug Delivery Systems JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.720087 DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.720087 ISSN=2296-2646 ABSTRACT=

Nanocarriers are rapidly growing in popularity in the field of drug delivery. The ability of nanocarriers to encapsulate and distribute poorly soluble drugs while minimising their undesired effects is significantly advantageous over traditional drug delivery. Nanocarriers can also be decorated with imaging moieties and targeting agents, further incrementing their functionality. Of recent interest as potential nanocarriers are spiropyrans; a family of photochromic molecular switches. Due to their multi-responsiveness to endo- and exogenous stimuli, and their intrinsic biocompatibility, they have been utilised in various drug delivery systems (DDSs) to date. In this review, we provide an overview of the developments in spiropyran-based DDSs. The benefits and drawbacks of utilising spiropyrans in drug delivery are assessed and an outline of spiropyran-based drug delivery systems is presented.