Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in ionic liquids: An effective approach for API physiochemical parameter optimization

•Ionic liquids (ILs) are ions-based substances with melting points below 100 °C.•Versatile nature and properties of ILs made it as solvent and designer solvents.•Depending upon the properties, ILs are categorized into three different generations.•Third-generation ILs have low cost, biodegradable, and possess lesser toxicity.•API-ILs observed higher solubility, bioavailability and therapeutics over APIs.