Discovering less toxic ionic liquids by using the Microtox® toxicity test.
New Microtox® toxicity data of 16 ionic liquids of different cationic and anionic composition were determined. The ionic liquids 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium trifluoromethanesulfonate, [BMPyr(+)][TFO(-)], 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium chloride, [BMPyr(+)][Cl(-)], hydroxypropylmethylimidazolium fluoroacetate, [HOPMIM(+)][FCH2COO(-)], and hydroxypropylmethylimidazolium glycolate [HOPMIM(+)][glycolate(-)] were found to be less toxic than conventional organic solvent such as chloroform or toluene, accoding the Microtox® toxicity assays. The toxicity of pyrrolidinium cation was lower than the imidazolium and pyridinium ones. It was found that the inclusion of an hydroxyl group in the alkyl chain length of the cation also reduce the toxicity of the ionic liquid. To sum up, the Microtox® toxicity assays can be used as screening tool to easily determined the toxicity of a wide range of ionic liquids and the toxicity data obtained could allow the obtention of structure-toxicity relationships to design less toxic ionic liquids.
Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Ambiental, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT), Campus Muralla del Mar, C/ Doctor Fleming S/N, E-30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain.
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Hernández-Fernández
Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Ambiental, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT), Campus Muralla del Mar, C/ Doctor Fleming S/N, E-30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain.
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Bayo
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, E-30100 Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: aprios@um.es.
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Pérez de los Ríos
Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Ambiental, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT), Campus Muralla del Mar, C/ Doctor Fleming S/N, E-30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain.
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Vicente
Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Ambiental, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT), Campus Muralla del Mar, C/ Doctor Fleming S/N, E-30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain.
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FJ
Bernal
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, E-30100 Murcia, Spain.
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Quesada-Medina
D000838:Anions; D002412:Cations; D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D018675:Toxicity Tests
D000838:Anions; D002412:Cations; D052578:Ionic Liquids
Ecotoxicity; Ionic liquid; Microtox; Vibrio fischeri