The Anticancer Potential of Ionic Liquids

Abstract

Among the many challenges that the pharmaceutical industry currently faces is the need to develop innovative and effective therapies. The investigation of alternative and effective therapies against cancer is a current goal of the pharmaceutical industry. Ionic liquids (ILs) have emerged recently as a topic of study by researchers in the pharmaceutical industry in their search for new therapeutic agents. By definition, ILs are organic salts with melting points below 100 °C that are composed only by ions. Their main advantage lies in the numerous possible combinations of cations and anions, which allow adjustments in their physicochemical properties. The combination between ILs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) may improve the properties of APIs. In addition, the antitumor properties of these compounds have been described. Several studies have reported the use of ILs in biomedical applications as therapeutic agents, namely as antitumor agents. This review describes the recent proposed applications of ILs as antitumor agents.

Keywords: active pharmaceutical ingredients; antitumor agents; cancer; ionic liquids; toxicity.