Deep Eutectic Solvents: Are They Safe?

Abstract

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a relatively new type of solvent that have attracted the attention of the scientific community due to their environmentally friendly properties and their versatility in many applications. Many possible DESs have been described and, thus, it is not easy to unequivocally characterize and generalize their properties. This is especially important in the case of the (eco)toxicity information that can be found for these mixtures. In this review, we collect data on the human and environmental toxicity of DESs, with the aim of gathering and exploring the behavioral patterns of DESs. The toxicity data found were analyzed attending to different factors: hydrogen bond donors or acceptors that form part of the eutectic mixture, pH, and the presence of organic acids in the DES molar ratio of the components, or interactions with natural compounds. In the case of ecotoxicity, results generally depend on the biomodel studied, along with other factors that have been also revised. Finally, we also carried out a revision of the biodegradation of DESs.