title: Influence of oxygen functionalities on the environmental impact of imidazolium based ionic liquids.
abstract: Several physico-chemical properties relevant to determine the environmental impact of ionic liquids - aqueous solubility, octanol-water partition coefficient and diffusion coefficients in water at infinite dilution - together with toxicity and biodegradability of ionic liquids based on 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cations with or without different oxygenated functional groups (hydroxyl, ester and ether) are studied in this work. The presence of oxygen groups on the imidazolium cation reduces the toxicity of ionic liquids 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium with bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide or octylsulfate anions and simultaneously decreases the value of their octanol-water partition coefficient. The presence of ester functions renders the ionic liquids more easily biodegradable, especially for long alkyl side-chains in the cation but leads to hydrolysis with the formation of reaction products that accumulate. The imidazolium ring is resistant to biodegradability and to abiotic degradation. The oxygen functionalised ionic liquids are more soluble in water and, diffuse more slowly in this medium.
authors.affiliation: Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal, Laboratoire Thermodynamique et Interactions Moléculaires, Aubière, France.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Besse-Hoggan
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sancelme
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Delort
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Husson
authors.forename: Margarida F Costa
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Gomes
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: D007093:Imidazoles; D010100:Oxygen