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Review
. 2022 Jun 3;27(11):3598.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27113598.

Lignin as a Natural Carrier for the Efficient Delivery of Bioactive Compounds: From Waste to Health

Federico Verdini  1 , Emanuela Calcio Gaudino  1 , Erica Canova  1   2 , Silvia Tabasso  1 , Paria Jafari Behbahani  1 , Giancarlo Cravotto  1
Affiliations
Review

Lignin as a Natural Carrier for the Efficient Delivery of Bioactive Compounds: From Waste to Health

Federico Verdini et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Lignin is a fascinating aromatic biopolymer with high valorization potentiality. Besides its extensive value in the biorefinery context, as a renewable source of aromatics lignin is currently under evaluation for its huge potential in biomedical applications. Besides the specific antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of lignin, that depend on its source and isolation procedure, remarkable progress has been made, over the last five years, in the isolation, functionalization and modification of lignin and lignin-derived compounds to use as carriers for biologically active substances. The aim of this review is to summarize the current state of the art in the field of lignin-based carrier systems, highlighting the most important results. Furthermore, the possibilities and constraints related to the physico-chemical properties of the lignin source will be reviewed herein as well as the modifications and processing required to make lignin suitable for the loading and release of active compounds.

Keywords: drug carrier; extraction techniques; lignin; nanoparticles; renewable material.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Classification of most common nanoparticles (NP) and their cargo, delivery and patient-response advantages and disadvantages.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pros and cons of the most common biomass-derived nanoparticles.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Lignin monolignols and common chemical bonds involved in the formation of lignin polymeric structure.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Number of publications per year on the use of lignin in the biomedical field (Web of ScienceTM).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic overview of lignin recovery, extraction, modification and applications.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The most common lignin extraction techniques.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Synthesis of new chemically active sites by lignin chemical modification.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Lignin hydroxyl-group functionalization.
Figure 9
Figure 9
pH-controlled drug delivery of ASKL-chol.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Commercial lignin brands and their applications.
Figure 11
Figure 11
The lignin market in the last ten years (left) and the number of citations per year (right) related to the use of lignin in the biomedical field (Web of ScienceTM).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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