Drug delivery systems based on renewable polymers: A conceptual short review

There are ever increasing concerns about environmental and health hazards of conventional synthetic polymers. These polymers are not sustainable because their production process relies on fossil-based feedstocks and energy sources. Economic benefits and beneficial physicochemical and mechanical properties have made synthetic polymers to be used in wide range of applications from packaging to biomedicine. On the other hand, modern chemistry has provided us with invaluable tools to make well-defined polymers with tailored properties which can be used in biomedical filed such as designing advanced drug delivery systems (DDSs). In fact, polymers are indispensable constituents of most of novel DDSs. However, sustainability concerns about raw materials and polymeric building blocks of such DDSs, remains unsolved. In addition, efficient and proper degradability of sustainable building blocks of DDSs is important for their clearance from human body. Accordingly, development of sustainable and biodegradable polymeric materials is highly demanding in development of sustainable DDSs. This perspective provides a general overview on sustainable polymers and highlights their potential applications in designing novel DDSs. Unsolved challenges and future prospects are discussed accompanied by offering potential solutions. © The Author(s) 2022.