Although polyrotaxanes are formed from components, their solubilities are different from the host or guest molecules. For examples, in the cyclodextrin-based polyrotaxanes, due to the hydrophilicity or high polarity of exterior structure of the cyclodextrins, some polyrotaxanes are able to be dissolved in water or other polar solvents though the guest molecules are hydrophobic or nonpolar. These water-soluble can be applied into drug or gene carriers.
There are two main advantages for polyrotaxanes applied to drug/gene delivery: