Implementing the "catch-and-release" concept into a simple method for regioselective cyclodextrin modification.

Differentiation of specific positions in axial-symmetrical cyclodextrins (CDs), exhibiting a dense display of identical functional groups, is challenging. A novel strategy toward this goal that exploits a solid matrix to display the complementary reagent functionalities sufficiently far from each other to prevent CDs from reacting through more than one site is reported. Using a "catch-and-release" process based on the Staudinger reaction, the utility of this concept to easily produce complex CD functionalization patterns in one pot and without any purification step is demonstrated.