glycerol

Overview

Glycerol is a simple three-carbon polyol that serves as an important chemical building block, solvent, cryoprotectant, and metabolic substrate in biology and biotechnology. In living systems, it is closely tied to lipid metabolism and central carbon flux, and it can be converted by microorganisms into a range of value-added products. Because of its physicochemical properties, glycerol is also widely used in formulation science, deep eutectic solvents, hydrogels, and biomaterial systems.

In biomedical and experimental contexts, glycerol has multiple roles. It can function as a mucosal penetration enhancer, a cryoprotectant for preserving cells, and a component of solvent systems that tune viscosity, water content, and material performance. In clinical and translational research, glycerol has also been measured as a biomarker of cellular membrane stress and injury, including in cerebral microdialysis. These diverse uses make glycerol relevant to metabolism, drug delivery, tissue preservation, and biomaterials engineering.

Focus of Latest Publications

Recent studies have examined glycerol both as a substrate and as a functional additive across microbiology, materials science, and biomedical applications.

Several publications focused on microbial bioconversion of glycerol. In engineered Escherichia coli, glycerol was used as a co-substrate to promote cell growth and improve production of D-allulose in a glucose-glycerol dual-carbon system. Another study reported that glycerol concentration strongly affected host growth and the biocatalytic formation of aurachin D in E. coli; while improved growth and substrate solubilization did not fully explain the higher product titer, glycerol supplementation positively influenced expression of the enzyme AuaA. A separate metabolic engineering study described a modular E. coli platform for de novo biosynthesis of nylon monomers directly from glycerol, underscoring its value as a renewable carbon source. Glycerol was also used in a cell-free biosynthetic platform for 3-hydroxypropionic acid, where a designer two-enzyme complex involving GDHt and KGSADH enabled conversion from glycerol. In another bioprocess, glycerol was part of a lactate-derived feedstock generated by co-fermentation of cassava starch wastewater and glycerol in a continuous multiple tube reactor for biohydrogen production.

Glycerol also appeared in studies of biocatalysis and carbohydrate synthesis. A rationally designed sucrose phosphorylase improved production of 2-O-α-glucosyl glycerol from sucrose and glycerol under high-viscosity conditions, achieving high product titers. In another enzymatic process, Candida antarctica lipase B was immobilized on bifunctional starch nanoparticles to catalyze esterification of glycerol with butyric acid, yielding high conversion in a Pickering emulsion microreactor. These studies highlight glycerol’s role as both a substrate and a product scaffold in enzymatic synthesis.

In biomedical and translational research, glycerol was measured in cerebral microdialysis during hemorrhagic shock in a porcine model resuscitated with total REBOA. In that context, cerebral glycerol was described as a recognized marker of cellular membrane stress and injury, making it relevant to assessment of brain metabolic damage. Another study used glycerol as a mucosal penetration enhancer in a nose-to-brain delivery platform for codelivery of anti-IL-17 antibodies and anti-CD73 antibodies to improve immunotherapy for melanoma brain metastases. This suggests a formulation role for glycerol in enhancing transport across biological barriers.

Glycerol was also used in biomaterials and hydrogel systems. It was incorporated into a nanocellulose-based double-network eutectogel with choline chloride and acrylic acid, contributing to mechanical strength, toughness, and multifunctional sensing performance. In another hydrogel moisture electric generator, a deionized water/glycerol binary solvent system was used with sulfonated silk nanofibers and LiCl to tune material properties. A self-adhesive multifunctional hydrogel patch for sleep monitoring also used glycerol-to-ethylene glycol ratios to regulate water content and strain sensitivity. These studies show glycerol’s utility in controlling hydration, flexibility, and stability in soft materials.

Additional work used glycerol in chemical synthesis and extraction. A nano graft copolymer for liver cancer-related evaluation was synthesized via reaction of phthalic anhydride with glycerol, followed by conversion to an acid chloride derivative. Glycerol was also evaluated as one of several polar solvents for astaxanthin extraction from Haematococcus pluvialis biomass. In another study, glycerol was part of a deep eutectic solvent system and was used in combination with choline chloride and acrylic acid to create functional materials. Across these studies, glycerol served as a versatile chemical platform rather than a single-target therapeutic agent.

Key Publications

• Jun Biochemical composition of prostate core-needle biopsies before and after a single fraction of 13.5 Gy: a Raman spectroscopy-based study. (The Analyst, 2026, PMID 42171032): "Eight biochemicals were significantly differentially expressed between pre- and post-HDR-BT benign tissue (13.5 Gy single fraction): citric acid, collagen, cysteine, DNA, glycerol, palmitic acid, tryptophan, and lycopene (by Mann-Whitney U test)."
• Jun Engineering of glycerol-derived aldolase pathway improves D-allulose synthesis in a glucose-glycerol dual-carbon system. (Archives of microbiology, 2026, PMID 42301349): "demonstrate that using glycerol as a co-substrate can promote cell growth and enhance D-allulose synthesis in engineered E. coli"
• Jun Cerebral glycerol during haemorrhagic shock in normal and raised intracranial pressure resuscitated with total REBOA: an experimental porcine study. (European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society, 2026, PMID 42295429): "Cerebral microdialysis (CMD) derived glycerol (CGly) is a recognised marker of cellular membrane stress and injury."
• Jun Bifunctional starch nanoparticles for achieving recyclable interfacial biocatalysis within a narrow pH range. (Carbohydrate polymers, 2026, PMID 42002327): "The bifunctional nanoparticles were used to immobilize Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) for the esterification of glycerol and butyric acid, achieving 97% conversion in the resulting Pickering emulsion microreactor."
• Jun Development and biological evaluation of new nano copolymer-drug composites designed for selective liver cancer treatment. (European journal of pharmaceutics and biopharmaceutics : official journal of Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Pharmazeutische Verfahrenstechnik e.V, 2026, PMID 41932555): "A new nano-graft copolymer was first synthesized via the reaction of phthalic anhydride with glycerol, followed by conversion to its acid chloride derivative (B2)."
• Jun Engineering a self-organized enzyme cascade for enhanced cell-free biosynthesis of 3-hydroxypropionic acid. (Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society, 2026, PMID 42080289): "Here, we report a cell-free biosynthetic platform for 3-HP production from glycerol featuring a designer two-enzyme complex composed of GDHt and KGSADH."
• Jun Biohydrogen production from lactate derived via co-fermentation of cassava starch wastewater and glycerol in a continuous multiple tube reactor. (Environmental technology, 2026, PMID 42101186): "The lactic fermentation produced a homogeneous substrate with 41% LA and 52% glycerol, suitable for hydrogen generation."
• Jun A high-toughness, high-strength, and highly sensitive nanocellulose-based double-network eutectogel with environmental stability for a multifunction sensor. (International journal of biological macromolecules, 2026, PMID 42128120): "(PDES, composed of choline chloride, acrylic acid, and glycerol)."
• Jun Deep eutectic solvent-modified sulfonated silk nanofibers for hydrogel moisture electric generators in energy harvesting. (International journal of biological macromolecules, 2026, PMID 42128123): "A silk nanofiber-based hydrogel MEG was designed by integrating SSNFs and LiCl into a polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel matrix using a deionised water (DI water) and glycerol (GLY) binary solvent system."
• Jun Development of a gut microbiota model for the analysis of bacterial modifications of xenobiotics. (Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 2026, PMID 42216984): "The bacterial cell fraction remained structurally intact, allowing long-term preservation at -70 °C with glycerol as a cryoprotectant."