title: Bioinspired choline-like ionic liquids: their penetration ability through cell membranes and application to SEM visualization of hydrous samples.
abstract: This letter proposes the use of choline-like hydrophilic ionic liquids (ILs) to visualize hydrous samples (e.g., seaweed and other biological or food samples) for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation. Some of the water in the samples was successfully replaced with these ILs, which penetrated the cell membranes. The treated samples did not contract much even after drying. The ILs' ionic conductivity decreased the charging of sample surfaces, and good SEM images were obtained.
authors.affiliation: Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi 8, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: Kotaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Hayato
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Tetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yonezawa
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002794:Choline / Q000737:chemistry*; D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D052578:Ionic Liquids; D002794:Choline