Applications for natural deep eutectic solvents in Chinese herbal medicines

Minghui Li; Cheng Rao; Xiaoqian Ye; Mei Wang; Boyuan Yang; Chengxiao Wang; Liqun Guo; Yin Xiong; Xiuming Cui

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.1104096

Applications for natural deep eutectic solvents in Chinese herbal medicines

Front Pharmacol. 2023 Jan 9:13:1104096. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.1104096. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Minghui Li^{1

2}, Cheng Rao^{1

2}, Xiaoqian Ye^{1

2}, Mei Wang^{3

4}, Boyuan Yang^{1

2}, Chengxiao Wang^{1

2}, Liqun Guo⁵, Yin Xiong^{1

2

3}, Xiuming Cui^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China.
² Yunnan Key Laboratory of Panax notoginseng, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China.
³ Leiden University-European Center for Chinese Medicine and Natural Compounds, Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
⁴ SU Biomedicine BV, Leiden, Netherlands.
⁵ Center for Drug Discovery & Technology Development of Yunnan Traditional Medicine, Kunming, China.

Abstract

Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs), with a wide range of bioactive components, are considered to be an important source for new drug discovery. However, the process to isolate and obtain those bioactive components to develop new drugs always consumes a large amount of organic solvents with high toxicity and non-biodegradability. Natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES), a new type of green and designable solvents composed of primary plant-based metabolites, have been used as eco-friendly substitutes for traditional organic solvents in various fields. Due to the advantages of easy preparation, low production cost, low toxicity, and eco-friendliness, NADES have been also applied as extraction solvents, media, and drug delivery agents in CHMs in recent years. Besides, the special properties of NADES have been contributed to elucidating the traditional processing (also named Paozhi in Chinese) theory of CHMs, especially processing with honey. In this paper, the development process, preparation, classification, and applications for NADES in CHMs have been reviewed. Prospects in the future applications and challenges have been discussed to better understand the possibilities of the new solvents in the drug development and other uses of CHMs.

Keywords: Chinese herbal medicines; NADES; extraction; green solvent; traditional processing (Paozhi).

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Fund of Yunnan Quality and Technology Supervision Bureau (KKPT202126008), National Natural Science Foundation of China (82260698); Key R&D Project of Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department (202003AC100013), and Fund of Yunnan Key Laboratory of Innovative Application of Chinese Medicines (02205AG070005).