Deep Eutectic Solvents: An Eco‐friendly Design for Drug Engineering

• Published in: ChemSusChem Vol. 16; no. 20; pp. e202300669 - n/a
• Main Authors: Oyoun, Feras, Toncheva, Antoniya, Henríquez, Luis Castillo, Grougnet, Raphael, Laoutid, Fouad, Mignet, Nathalie, Alhareth, Khair, Corvis, Yohann
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 20.10.2023
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; drug delivery systems; drug design; Environmental effects; Environmental impact; Eutectics; green chemistry; Pharmaceuticals; polymers; Solvents; therapeutic deep eutectic solvents
• ISSN: 1864-5631; 1864-564X; 1864-564X
• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202300669

In the spirit of circular economy and sustainable chemistry, the use of environmentally friendly chemical products in pharmacy has become a hot topic. In recent years, organic solvents have been the subject of a great range of restriction policies due to their harmful effects on the environment and toxicity to human health. In parallel, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have emerged as suitable greener solvents with beneficial environmental impacts and a rich palette of physicochemical advantages related to their low cost and biocompatibility. Additionally, DESs can enable remarkable solubilizing effect for several active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), thus forming therapeutic DESs (TheDESs). In this work, special attention is paid to DESs, presenting a precise definition, classification, methods of preparation, and characterization. A description of natural DESs (NaDESs), i. e., eutectic solvents present in natural sources, is also reported. Moreover, the present review article is the first one to detail the different approaches for judiciously selecting the constituents of DESs in order to minimize the number of experiments. The role of DESs in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors and their impact on the development of successful therapies are also discussed. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) appeared as an alternative to harmful organic solvents. This review presents a framework for understanding the development process of DESs, starting from the main parameters for judiciously selecting the DES components, then highlighting the methods of preparation and characterization, and ending with explaining the role of DESs in designing drug delivery systems.