Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents – Solvents for the 21st Century

Green technology is actively seeking for new solvents able to replace common organic solvents which present inherent toxicity and have a high volatility, leading to the evaporation of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere. Over the past two decades, ionic liquids (ILs) have gained enormous attention from the scientific community and the number of reported articles in the literature has grown exponentially. Nevertheless IL “greenness” is often challenged, mainly due to their poor biodegradability, biocompatibility and sustainability. An alternative to ILs are Deep Eutectic solvents (DES). Deep eutectic solvents are defined as a mixture of two solid components, which at a particular composition present a…