title: Combining ionic liquids and polyethylene glycols to boost the hydrophobic-hydrophilic range of aqueous biphasic systems.
abstract: This work reveals, for the first time, that polymer-ionic-liquid-based aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) exhibit a much wider hydrophilic-hydrophobic range than conventional systems reported to date. Three probe dyes were used to demonstrate that either the polymer-rich or the ionic-liquid-rich layer can serve as the most hydrophobic phase. It was found that the phase polarities can be easily tuned by the choice of an appropriate ionic liquid.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química, CICECO, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal. maragfreire@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Jorge F B
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Luís Paulo N
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Rebelo
authors.forename: Robin D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: João A P
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Coutinho
authors.forename: Mara G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Freire