Dihydroxyacetone: An Updated Insight into an Important Bioproduct

Abstract

Currently obtained from glycerol through microbial fermentation, the demand of 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) has significantly grown during the course of the last decade, driven by the consumer passion for a tan and increasing awareness of UV photodamage to the skin caused by prolonged exposure to the sun. We provide an updated bioeconomy perspective into a valued bioproduct (DHA), whose supply and production from glycerol, we argue in this study, will rapidly expand and diversify, with important global health benefits.

Keywords: bioeconomy; bioproduct; dihydroxyacetone (DHA); glycerol; self-tanning products.

Scheme 1

Dimeric DHA in the solid state dissociates into a mixture of free carbonyl and hydrated monomers upon dissolution.

Figure 1

Stability test of the PtSb/C electrode for glycerol oxidation [reaction conditions: 0.1 m glycerol, 0.797 V, 60 °C, 10 h] in a mixture of 0.1 m glycerol and 0.5 m H₂SO₄ at a constant potential of 0.797 V (vs. SHE). Reproduced from Ref. 36 with permission. Copyright (2016) Royal Society of Chemistry.