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dihydroxyacetone (Nigrantil)

✓ Approved

Vinas · Small Molecule · Small Molecule

What is dihydroxyacetone?

dihydroxyacetone is a small molecule developed by Vinas. It is approved for therapeutic indications.

Drug Profile

Brand NamesNigrantil
CompanyVinas
Drug ClassSmall Molecule
StatusApproved
Sources: ClinicalTrials.gov, Vinas

Therapeutic Indications

dihydroxyacetone is developed for 1 unique indication across 1 therapeutic area.

Therapeutic AreaConditionPhase
Skin and subcutaneous tissue disordersVitiligo✓ Approved

Related Research Articles

PubMedNanoscale2026-07-16

Yolk-shell microenvironment engineering enables Au/CuO@Void@mSiO2 catalysts with high activity and cycling stability for glycerol oxidation to 1,3-dihydroxyacetone.

Zheng Tao T, Wang Fei F, Yang Yukun Y, Zhang Xiaoli X et al.

The selective oxidation of glycerol, a renewable by-product of biodiesel production, to 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) offers a green and sustainable pathway for biomass upgrading, yet the development of catalysts that simultaneously achieve high activity and long-term cycling stability remains challenging. In this work, Au/CuO@Void@mSiO2 yolk-shell nanoparticles with engineered microenvironments were synthesized via an improved Stöber method combined with an adsorption-reduction strategy, and constructed as highly active and cycling-stable catalysts for base-free glycerol oxidation to DHA. A series of samples were prepared by adjusting the dosage of silica source, template, and precursor to tailor yolk-shell microenvironments. Among the prepared samples, the optimized catalyst, Au/CVmS-10, delivered 92.9% glycerol conversion with 91.3% selectivity toward DHA at 100 °C within 2 h. Notably, it maintained 89.1% conversion and 90.0% selectivity after five cycles, outperforming all previously reported base-free catalysts. Comprehensive characterization and analyses revealed that yolk-shell microenvironment engineering endowed the catalysts with excellent structural stability, high-specific-surface-area core-shell structure, rapid mass transfer, and enriched adsorbed oxygen species, as well as precisely tunable shell thickness, pore structure and interlayer void space, thus retaining outstanding catalytic performance throughout repeated cycling tests. This work highlights the microenvironment regulation within yolk-shell architectures as a key factor for enhancing both activity and durability in glycerol valorization.

PMID 42461026
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PubMedClinical case reports2026-07-14

Intravenous Dihydroxyacetone as Adjunctive Therapy in Aluminum Phosphide Poisoning: A Case Series.

Niknahad Hossein H, Heidari Reza R, Hosseini Leila L, Yazdani Shayan S et al.

In three patients with aluminum phosphide poisoning, intravenous dihydroxyacetone (DHA) was added to standard supportive care. Improvement in metabolic acidosis and hemodynamic status was temporally associated with DHA administration. Controlled studies are needed to determine efficacy and safety.

PMID 42445459
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PubMedBiochemical and biophysical research communications2026-07-14

Crystal structure of a fungal dihydroxyacetone kinase reveals a non-canonical ATP-binding site.

Wei Hongli H, Chen Yangyang Y, Zhang Fan F, Li Qian Q et al.

Dihydroxyacetone kinase (DAK) catalyzes the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of dihydroxyacetone (DHA) and is an important enzyme in artificial starch synthesis. Here, we report the crystal structure of a methylotrophic yeast DAK from Komagataella phaffii (formly Pichia pastoris, PpDAK). ATP was observed at a non-canonical site distinct from the canonical bacterial ATP-binding pocket. Docking further suggested that the canonical pocket remains accessible, indicating flexibility in ATP recognition. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses show that PpDAK clusters within a distinct methylotrophic yeast lineage and that residues surrounding the non-canonical ATP-binding site are conserved among methylotrophic yeasts. In addition, Mg2+ ions were identified in some substrate-binding pockets and docking suggested substantial overlap between Mg2+ and the predicted DHA-binding position. Together, these findings provide structural insights into ATP recognition in fungal DAKs and a framework for future functional studies and enzyme engineering.

PMID 42442090
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PubMedSynthetic and systems biotechnology2026-06-30

Evolution of alcohol oxidase for improved methanol bioconversion and formaldehyde tolerance.

Ding Xu-Wei XW, Sun Ya-Juan YJ, Hu Xiao-Yu XY, Yang Jun-Yi JY et al.

Methanol oxidation by alcohol oxidases (AOXs) is a key bottleneck in one-carbon (C1) bioconversion due to limited catalytic efficiency and poor formaldehyde tolerance. Here, we report the directed evolution of an alcohol oxidase from Gloeophyllum trabeum, yielding an optimized variant, GtAOXM3. The engineered enzyme exhibits a sixfold increase in catalytic efficiency (7.7 s-1 mM-1), together with enhanced formaldehyde tolerance, thermostability, and high methanol specificity. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that increased global rigidity and cooperative residue dynamics contribute to the improved performance. When incorporated in multienzyme cascade systems, GtAOXM3 enables efficient conversion of methanol to the value-added chemicals dihydroxyacetone (34.5 mM) and ethylene glycol (23.3 mM). This work establishes GtAOXM3 as an efficient and cost-effective biocatalyst for methanol-based C1 biotransformation.

PMID 42376006
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PubMedJACS Au2026-06-26

Unified Chemoenzymatic Approach to 16α-Methyl Glucocorticoids: Stereocontrolled Synthesis of (+)-Dexamethasone, (+)-Mometasone, (+)-Flumethasone, (+)-Halometasone, and (+)-Vamorolone.

He Hangli H, Zhang Yajiao Y, Liu Minjie M, Li Menglan M et al.

16α-Methyl glucocorticoids are a renowned family of steroid molecules with diverse important pharmaceutical applications, and development of innovative, practical, and divergent synthetic routes toward these steroids is highly desirable. Herein, we report a unified stereocontrolled synthesis of five 16α-methyl glucocorticoid pharmaceuticals, namely, (+)-dexamethasone, (+)-mometasone, (+)-flumethasone, (+)-halometasone, and (+)-vamorolone, in 9.9-26.8% overall yields starting from commercially available 9α-hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3,17-dione (9α-OH-AD), featuring a telescoped in-flow synthesis consisting of an acidic resin-mediated dehydration and an enzyme-catalyzed C1,2-dehydrogenation, an Au-(I)-catalyzed hydration of enyne to enone, and a conjugate addition-dihydroxylation sequence-enabled construction of the chiral C16α-methyl and C17α,21-dihydroxyacetone moieties. This established chemoenzymatic platform provides a versatile and generic access to other valuable 16α-methyl glucocorticoids.

PMID 42358698
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PubMedJournal of the American Chemical Society2026-06-19

Fast Interfacial Hole Consumption Suppresses Space-Charge Layer Trap Filling in BiVO4 Photoanodes.

Li Longren L, Wang Tong T, Hu Beier B, Oldham Louise I LI et al.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) oxidation of biomass-derived organics (e.g., glycerol) can outperform water oxidation while coproducing value-added chemicals. However, the kinetic basis of this enhanced performance, such as hole consumption dynamics and space-charge-layer (SCL) trap filling under PEC operating conditions, remains poorly understood. Using BiVO4 as a model photoanode, we combine operando optical and photocurrent spectroscopies, including trap-selective pump-push photocurrent (PPPC) mapping, to track bulk and interfacial charge-carrier dynamics over the femtosecond-to-second (fs-s) time scale. Overall, we show that glycerol oxidation accelerates interfacial hole consumption, lowering the surface-hole density required to sustain a given photocurrent, thereby suppressing SCL trap filling and trap-mediated recombination. Glycerol increases the per-hole turnover frequency 32-fold (∼3.5 to ∼113.2 s-1) and the photocurrent density at 1.23 VRHE from ∼0.5 to ∼1.3 mA cm-2, while formic acid and dihydroxyacetone are the dominant quantified liquid products. Spatially resolved PPPC mapping (over ∼20 mm2) shows that glycerol also suppresses localized trap-filled hot spots. Glycerol leaves the dominant early time bulk carrier dynamics largely unchanged while suppressing the microsecond buildup of trapped electrons in the SCL. These results highlight microsecond time-scale kinetic competition between interfacial hole consumption and SCL trap filling as a key design principle for PEC oxidation of renewable organics.

PMID 42319808
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