Glycerol and its derivatives as potential C-3 bio-based building blocks for accessing active pharmaceutical ingredients

This review discusses the underexploited potential of renewable glycerol and its derivatives for the preparation of active pharmaceutical ingredients, some of which are on the World Health Organization list of essential medicines. The regulatory challenges faced by industries regarding the replacement of petro-based building blocks with renewably sourced ones are described before diving into pharmaceutical ingredients that could potentially incorporate these bio-based atoms. The active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are sorted by their therapeutical potential, including entities treating cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal drugs and compounds endowed with anti-infective properties. Finally, polymeric drugs and more eclectic substrates such as dietary supplements, radiosensitizers or chemotherapeutical agents are considered in the last two sub-sections. The broad spectrum of presented substrates relying on glycerol or potentially glycerol-derived reagents in their synthetic pathway emphasizes the potential contribution of bio-based substrates in already developed industrial processes. The examples in this review hint toward a future chemical development in which APIs may be constructed with increasing percentages of bio-sourced atoms.