title: Applications and mechanisms of ionic liquids in whole-cell biotransformation.
abstract: Ionic liquids (ILs), entirely composed of cations and anions, are liquid solvents at room temperature. They are interesting due to their low vapor pressure, high polarity and thermostability, and also for the possibility to fine-tune their physicochemical properties through modification of the chemical structures of their cations or anions. In recent years, ILs have been widely used in biotechnological fields involving whole-cell biotransformations of biodiesel or biomass, and organic compound synthesis with cells. Research studies in these fields have increased from the past decades and compared to the typical solvents, ILs are the most promising alternative solvents for cell biotransformations. However, there are increasing limitations and new challenges in whole-cell biotransformations with ILs. There is little understanding of the mechanisms of ILs' interactions with cells, and much remains to be clarified. Further investigations are required to overcome the drawbacks of their applications and to broaden their application spectrum. This work mainly reviews the applications of ILs in whole-cell biotransformations, and the possible mechanisms of ILs in microbial cell biotransformation are proposed and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. 11213025@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lin-Lin
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. 21313060@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hong-Ji
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. chenqh@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qi-He
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D056804:Biofuels; D001711:Biotransformation; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D007218:Industrial Microbiology / Q000379:methods; D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D052578:Ionic Liquids