Vegetable Oil-Based Materials for Drug Delivery Systems and Wound Dressings

Abstract

Vegetable oils are natural and renewable resources, mostly composed of triglycerides (fatty acid esters of glycerol). These molecules possess multiple reactive sites, which can be used for chemical functionalization to form epoxides, hydroxyls, and cyclic carbonates. Thanks to these added functions, polymerization can take place in order to form vegetable oil-based materials, such as polyesters, polyurethanes, or hybrid materials. The development of vegetable oil-based polymers has provided access to new materials with properties such as flexibility, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Thus, these characteristics make them particularly well-suited for biomedical applications. In this review, we are focusing on vegetable oil-based materials developed as drug delivery systems and wound dressings.